Harry Potter and the Tainting of the Light
by Heaven's Reaper
Summary: Harry is sick or being the wizarding world's scapegoat. He is sick of doing what is expected of him by others. Now the only thing that matters is what he wants, and he wants revenge. No pairing decision so far. No update, sorry.
1. Chapter 1

Harry Potter and the Tainting of the Light  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Author's Note: I'm not really good at writing Harry Potter stories, god knows I read a lot, but I don't get many of the fundamentals of the magical world, so... yeah. I like J.K. Rowling's story, but it's pretty vague.  
  
  
  
(July 31)  
  
Harry Potter was extremely angry at the moment. He was forced, once again, to spend time with his "oh-so-loving relatives." The very same relatives that used to beat him, used to starve him daily on a daily basis. At least that was before Mad Eye and Tonks threatened them. His relatives hated him with passion, yet he can easily say that the feeling was mutual. He often wondered what it would feel like torture them. He knew that if they ever raised their hands on him from now on, he wouldn't hesitate to kill them, underage magic decree or not.  
  
He was filled with so much rage at the moment; he knew he would be able to cast Cruciatus correctly. Hate coursed through his very blood, hate and the want to cause pain. Pain to those that wronged him, to those that made him suffer. Would that be considered righteous anger though. That is what Lestrange said on why he couldn't cast the Cruciatus Curse right. He was ashamed at how weak he was at the Ministry, how he was so stupid, so naive. He never even knew what was required to use the Cruciatus Curse and when he looked back, he didn't know many of the spells the Death Eaters used at the Ministry. How could he possibly be so naïve to not know the magic that his very enemies wielded?

Harry took a deep breath.

He was angry with a lot of things nowadays, but he was mostly angry with himself. He was angry at his own stupidity. He couldn't truly say that he got over Sirius' death by now, and in truth he would never get over any deaths, past, present, and future wise. He was angry at how he was tricked, his enemies knew Harry well. His moves were well read in advance by his opposition. He hated how predictable he was to others. Even his know-it-all friend and the dimwitted jealous friend knew him well enough to see a trap. What really burned him to the core was the fact that he couldn't even avenge his godfather's death.  
  
He was so caught up in childish activities that he ended up ignoring responsibilities. He knew Voldemort was after him, and still he did nothing. He could excuse himself in his first year, nothing could be done when he first went into the wizarding world. Hell he was surprised mostly at why he was famous most of the year. In second and third he could yet again excuse himself, albeit a little less, than in his first. Even fourth year, there wasn't an actual threat of Voldemort facing him man-to-man. However in his fifth year, he should have prepared, he should have prepared like a mad man. He himself was one of the lone voices that were shouting Voldemort's return for crying out loud, and still he did not take things to the core.  
  
He might have been one of the few to acknowledge his return, but when he looked back it was obvious that he didn't accept it. Anyone with half a brain would have prepared themselves if they knew Voldemort had a twitchy finger ready to fire Avada's at them. He should have been more serious about the situation. Even Moody was warning him, how many times did he have to get lectured by Moody for carrying his wand in his back pocket? How many times did he ignore the warnings of an experienced veteran Auror who was one of the most famous in the First Rise of Voldemort?  
  
Even Snape was warning him about being prepared. Snape was training him to be prepared for Voldemort, yet Harry let stupid childish grudges get in the way of learning how to save him-self! Snape, although being a jackass, was more then right when he said that Harry was arrogant. He was so arrogant, that he believed that he didn't need to take the most feared Dark Lord of this century seriously. He could have done something, if not take everyone else's word to heart, he could have at least read and studied.  
  
Hogwarts alone was known for holding enormous amounts of books on so many subjects of magic. That was the benefits of having a school that was about a 1000 year in age. It wouldn't matter though, even Hogwarts didn't have the books that he would need. There was little doubt in Harry's mind that the restricted section would be too tame for his likings. Every book in the library no matter how closely guarded, wouldn't hold such materials such as the Unforgivables. Maybe before Riddle's rise to power there would have been books on those subjects, but Dumbledore was no fool. He was a manipulative bastard, but he was no fool. The moment he took control of Hogwarts, he no doubt made sure that no one like Riddle could ever obtain knowledge that dangerous from the library. Maybe they would hold other Dark Arts but the trouble to get them and read them without anyone suspecting anything would be too hard. No he would need to either do some serious shopping, or hopefully find the things he needed at Grimmauld Place.  
  
The house had been owned by the Black Family, and they were infamous for they're past ancestry affiliating with the Dark Arts. Yes, he would train and prepare like never before. The only question was the fact that Harry never saw many books while in Grimmauld Place. Maybe Dumbledore cleaned them out as he situated the base of the Order of the Phoenix there. They were minor problems at the moment. He would become the "weapon" that everyone was expecting him to be. To Harry it was pathetic. The wizarding world expected him, a mere child barely passing in school, to do anything, while the lot of them would hide like cowards.  
  
If it weren't for his thirst for revenge he would let the lot rot. They deserved nothing less, the cowards, stabbing him in the back at the words of the fucking press. There also was the wizarding ministry. The whole damn place was a laugh to Harry; it was sad how the place was run. Not only was the leader of the damn government a coward that lusted for power, but a bunch of kids snuck into a "highly secured' section of the Ministry. The whole lot of them was pathetic.  
  
"Boy! Get down here now, someone at the front door for you!" Shouted Harry's uncle, breaking Harry from his thoughts.  
  
Harry grudgingly went downstairs exiting the room that had been his sleeping quarters for the last five years. He was somewhat grateful that he actually lived in a room now instead of a goddamn cupboard like he did for his first 10 years of stay at the Dursleys. He got to the front door, unconsciously holding his wand. He took Moody's word to heart, as he very well should have. The Auror definitely knew his stuff, or else he wouldn't be alive right now. He held it carefully, not letting it be seen and still having it so that he could draw it to attacking stance quickly.  
  
He saw his uncle walking past him, whispering about freaks and what-not. He continued walking towards the door and looked out. He saw that it was Tonks, one of the younger known members of the Order of Phoenix. He walked up to her, and in a speed surprising even himself, though it didn't show in his face, he raised his wand to Tonks face. She blinked with increased confusion laced with surprise.  
  
"What do you do at the entrance of the house that makes Mrs. Weasley so mad?" He asked.  
  
"Uhh... oh I trip over that coat racket thingy at the entrance, making HER shout causing Mrs. Weasley to get angry at me."  
  
"What did Moody warn me about before taking flight from here before?"  
  
"He said you'll blow your buttocks." Tonks said with a grin remembering that moment.  
  
"Okay, now what are you doing here?" Harry asked irritated putting his wand away.  
  
"Jeesh, what's with the attitude, and anyways I'm here to take you shopping" Tonks said annoyed at his tone, but brightening up at the part about shopping.  
  
"Why, it's not like your fantastic Order," Harry said sarcastically, "needed me to go with them to get my supplies last year."  
  
"Well, Dumbledore thought it best if you get some time enjoy yourself and mingle a little with the wizarding world. He thought you might be lonely." Tonks said.  
  
"So he isn't' as stupid as I thought. Well fine how are we getting there?" Harry asked.  
  
"Harry... Dumbledore is doing what he thinks is best." Tonks said trying to be gentle.  
  
"What's best for my life, or the wizarding worlds?" Harry sneered.  
  
"..." Tonks didn't respond.  
  
"Whatever, so how are we going there?"  
  
"I'm driving." Tonks said cheering up.  
  
"Shit." Harry cursed quietly.  
  
"Hey! I heard that, I'll happen to tell you that I only crashed once!" Tonks said.  
  
"Bet you only drove once also." Harry said.  
  
Tonks didn't answer, but her blush confirmed everything. An hour later, after countless attempts as a conversation by Tonks, with an equal number of short and cutting responses, they made it to the pub. Harry entered the Leaky Cauldron and went past the pub without even acknowledging anyone. The majority of them had believed him insane and he couldn't give a shit if they had a seizure right there and then.  
  
He and Tonks went to the alley, where Harry poked the right brick. As he entered two Aurors, who were standing guard at the entrance, stopped him. One leveled a wand to Harry's face and the other was sitting at a desk with a parchment and quill at hand.  
  
"Hand over the wand" The Auror said.  
  
"Not bloody likely, how do I know I can trust you with it?" Harry said snidely.  
  
"You don't have a choice, or else..." The Auror said.  
  
Harry gave a laugh that sounded cruel.  
  
"I'll humor you for now" With that Harry gave his wand to the Auror who checked it with a spell. It caused a mist to float over the wand and the name of the owner floated above the mist causing the Auror to pale.  
  
"Right M- Mr.- Mr. Potter your cleared." The Auror said giving him a badge while his partner took his name down. "You must wear the badge at all times, if you don't the consequences aren't favorable."  
  
Harry walked past the Auror without saying anything, leaving Tonks to follow the same procedures. He walked towards Gringotts ignoring the shouting of a really pissed off, clumsy Auror and walked up to an open goblin.  
  
"I'm here to make a withdrawal." Harry said shortly.  
  
"Of course Mr..." The goblin said snidely.  
  
"Potter." Harry said shortly and gave the goblin his keys. By that time, Tonks caught up to him and was chiding him for leaving her.  
  
Harry ignored her while looking at the goblin looking at his keys. The goblin seemed to check something that was behind the counter also and looked back at Harry.  
  
"Well Mr. Potter everything seems to be in order, however from what I am told you are to see the accountant manager for some... recent developments" The goblin said mysteriously.  
  
"Fine who the hell is the accountant manager I'm supposed to see?" Harry said irritated for being interrupted from his normal plans.  
  
"That would be Gransole. Please make your way to the far right of this room and ask for Gransole at the desk... right over there." The goblin said pointing to a certain desk.  
  
Harry grabbed his key and strides angrily to the desk. He reached the desk and did as the goblin told. That is how he found himself in a small room in the back of Gringotts. Tonks was also with him, something that truly annoyed him. After sitting on a chair that was meant for guests and waiting for 10 minutes an old yet elegantly dressed goblin stepped into the room.  
  
"Please excuse my tardiness; I had other things to take of. Now let's see..." Gransole looked over at a parchment that was on a desk the other side of the room from Harry. "Mr. Potter is it... a yes I know what this is about."  
  
"Well on with it." Harry said impatiently.  
  
"Patience is a virtue Mr. Potter, and arrogance leads to impulsive and faulting acts." The goblin said, annoyed at Harry's attitude.  
  
"Look we're here to talk about my account, not to talk about my actions to you or anyone else, so shut up and you start TALKING about my account." Harry said pissed off at the goblin.  
  
"Harry..." Tonks said warningly for his rudeness.  
  
It seemed that Harry ignored her once again until he looked at the goblin. "Look I'm sorry for my actions towards you, Gransole. My mood lately has been shitty, and I am wrong to take it out on you, but can we please just get on with it. I only have a short time to get away from my jackass of relatives and I would like to spend the time more productively." Harry said in a somewhat sorry tone.  
  
"Very well... Mr. Potter the reason you are here is because it is now your 16 birthday, is it not?"  
  
"Yes." Harry said, having no idea where this was going. However from Tonks gasp it seemed that she certainly knew what was going on.  
  
"Well, under normal circumstances you would still be a child in the wizarding laws, but because of the deaths of your parents, and your recent godfather, which also brings up some rather big changes to you financial status, but we'll get to that later, you are now able to be an emancipated adult. Not many have this choice, or privilege if you want to see it as such, but if you want you may be considered a legal adult, through signing of some papers."  
  
"What are the benefits of this arrangement?" Harry asked.  
  
"Well, for one you may use magic, provided it is not in the open for muggles to see. Also you get the full financial privilege that has been denied to you until you would have been of age. This means that you may have access to the money you have inherited past your trust fund."  
  
"Wait, I have money other then my current vault?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yes! Didn't you know, the Potter Family Vault is one of the more sizable and wealthy vaults in the whole of Gringotts. I can only think that the Malfoy and Dumbledore vault is better off. How can you not know of this?"  
  
"That is what I want to know, is it not Gringotts duty to inform their clients the full knowledge of the client's money? Especially considering that the client was never raised by magical beings?"  
  
"Well it is our procedure to inform someone that the client knows so that they can obtain the knowledge from." Gransole said.  
  
"Well, who's my contact?" Harry said.  
  
"Hmm. Let me see, it says Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. Your headmaster is it not?" Gransole said.  
  
"Yes, I should have known the ass would keep this from me." Harry muttered. "If I sign those papers will I be in control over my money?"  
  
"Yes of course that is the whole point of the process."  
  
"Is that all the benefits?" Harry asked.  
  
"Of course not, there are more, but they're all basically the same as if you were an adult. Nothing different, you also hold the same responsibilities as one as such the consequences if you break a law. You still have to go to school however to finish your education."  
  
"I can deal with that, now what was that you said about Sirius Black from before?" Harry asked.  
  
"Oh! Well it seems that Mr. Black's will had something that included your name in it, but I can't read it or anything. There needs to be an official hearing for these types of things.  
  
"Wait did my family have any business dealings in the past that is still currently active? Like stocks and what-not." Harry said.  
  
"Yes, being of your financial status, I would guess so." Gransole said.  
  
"Would you be able to check and if I did I would need a personal manager for these type of things. I don't truly think I would have the time or experience to manage this on my own. I would hope to at least have some professional advice." Harry said.  
  
"Of course..." Gransole seem to look through a lot of papers that no doubt carried the history of all of the Potter's bank statements. "Well the Potter's have a share in most of the major stores currently in Diagon Alley, with quite a few in Hogsmeade. There are also those in France, northern England..." By now it seemed that Gransole was more mumbling then anything.  
  
"Wait, did you say other countries?"  
  
"Of course Mr. Potter, you family is one of the older purebloods that have had marriages between many different countries to ensure alliances between family and so fort. It is sad to say that you are the only Potter alive now, but the holds you must have over other families are tremendous. So many families have dissolved under the Potter name... Don't forget what I've said Mr. Potter your family may be one the higher financial status in Gringotts, but I think I can safely say that the Potter's total wealth is unmatched in Europe."  
  
"Right... Well like I said I need someone to manage this, does it have to be a goblin or can it be someone I hire?"  
  
"It is your money sir, it is yours to do with as you wish, and we have no say. You could liquefy everything right now and throw it on the streets of Diagon Alley and we can't say anything. But I do believe that the Potter family has already got an accountant. The accountant is located in somewhere in France though... hmm... how does that work out. Well I'm sure you can handle that, the name of the person is Jewel Delaney, I do believe that's an English name."  
  
"Well, okay... Can I have those papers now?" Harry said.  
  
The goblin put a stack of papers on the desk and Harry walked up to it.  
  
"Harry, think about what you're doing, are you ready for this? Are you ready for being an adult?" Tonks asked for once very serious.  
  
"You're surviving in the real world, how hard can it be?" Harry said coldly. He went over to the desk and was looking over everything, when he was swung around.  
  
"Look Harry James POTTER, I don't know what the hell your problem is, but I will not allow to be talked like that by a child." Tonks said extremely angry.  
  
Harry however wasn't fazed by her anger and calmly replied. "Then give me a few more seconds and you can be talked like that by an adult." Harry swatted her hand away and resumed what he was doing.  
  
Tonks meanwhile was doing her best to calm herself down.  
  
'Come on, killing him won't solve anything.' Her rational side answered.  
  
'But it will help my anger.' She replied.  
  
'You know that you don't want to.' Her rational side countered.  
  
'But I do... he's so infuriating.' Tonks reasoned. By now Tonks hands were twitching. She was so close from getting her wand and hexing Harry out of his misery. She was about to snap, and didn't know how to stop herself. So snap she did.  
  
"CRESCO PENNIPOTENTI!" Tonks yelled. (1)  
  
Harry spun at a phenomenal rate and yelled, "PROTEGO!"  
  
The bat bogey spell was redirected back to Tonks who quickly jumped out of the way. She was about to shoot off another spell, when Harry calmly cast an "Expelliarmus" at her. He caught Tonks' wand rather easily and pocketed it. He walked up to Tonks and kneeled in front of her.  
  
"Got your anger out now? Or do you want to continue?" Harry asked.  
  
"But... How did you do that, I'm a trained Auror for crying out loud." Tonks was flabbergasted.  
  
"Your specialty is probably concealment and tracking having nothing to do with dueling. While you probably are good at dueling, you're probably still nothing compared to people who do nothing but train in it. Besides you're just out of the academy anyways, right? Been professional for a year now?" Harry asked.  
  
Tonks got up from the floor and dusted off her robes. "Still... that was fast reflexes there. And I got hit without a problem, my ego hurts, greatly, even if it was by the GREAT Harry Potter." Tonks said, pouting her lower lips.  
  
"Quidditch and constantly having Riddle and his followers chasing you has to do something. The DA wasn't useless stuff either. Look I'm sorry that I was an ass, but I'm just really pissed off today. I'm sorry that I took the crap out on you, but I got really angry when you treated me like a child and the fact that it made me feel like you were trying to control my life." Harry sighed.  
  
"Here." Harry threw Tonks her wand back. He exited the room with the papers signed and went back to the front entrance. There he spoke to another goblin.  
  
"Potter." Harry said shortly handing the goblin the key.  
  
"Oh Mr. Potter! If you would follow Grintor… GRINTOR!" The goblin yelled.  
  
Harry was met with a mossy looking goblin. He followed Grintor to the carts, where Tonks finally joined him, but she was oddly quiet.  
  
"To vault 687 Mr. Potter. Hold on." The goblin asked.  
  
"No actually I'm going to the Potter Family Vault." Harry said.  
  
"Oh, understood sir. Hold on." Grintor said to Tonk and Harry.  
  
The cart descended and went further down then Harry ever imagined. It was bloody freezing by the time he got down to a stop. He absently cast a warming charm on himself and Tonks. She looked grateful, but Harry didn't notice.  
  
"Vault 5 sir"  
  
"5? Holy hell, no wonder it's so cold." Harry exited the cart with Tonks trailing behind him. He looked towards the vault entrance and was in awe. Not only was the door itself gigantic, the design of the door was splendid. It was a black as onyx metal with intricate designs of gold and blood red. In the middle was a fancy "P" over what Harry guessed was his family's crest. It was a circular picture with a phoenix on one side, and a griffin in the other. They were separated by a curved sword, which looked like a scimitar version of Godric Gryfindor's sword. Only the sword didn't have jewel or anything, but its relative shape was the same. The whole crest looked like a warped version of the yin and yang symbol.  
  
Harry reached out to the crest, to touch it. He had no reason, it was just an instinct. (Does anyone ever question why people always have to grab something they're like in awe over. It's really funny, it's almost as if they can't believe their eyes and only by touching will the thing be real.) The vault door opened, without making any creaking noise. It seemed that the vaults down here were better kept then his Trust Fund Vault.  
  
"HOLY SHIT!" Harry said as he saw the number of things that were in his vault. There were many thing from galleons, sickles, and knuts to books, chest, and weapons. He instinctively grabbed a bag full of galleons and put it in a sack he always carried. He grumbled at how stupid it was to come down to the vault every single time for money. The goblin seemed to overhear and spoke.  
  
"Mr. Potter, we don't do this for just any of our clients, but for such a high class client as yourself, we have a special... bonus that will help you. It is called a Grab Bag, allowing you to grab the amount of money you need from the bag when you need it. You may get one on your way out if you were to ask." Grintor said.  
  
"Thank you for the information." Harry said while emptying the bag and going over to the weapons. Most of the weapons were large and would have been very hard to conceal or let him go unnoticed by others. There were a few, however, that caught his eyes. There were a set of daggers, which seemed to be fit for using only with each other, and a knife. Both weren't flashy in appearance, although it was nicely designed. They even had a sheath for each of them, and the best part was that he could sense that they were laden with magic. He couldn't tell what spells were on it, but he knew they had magic on it. The fact they weren't laden with jewels or anything like some of the other weapons would make it so no one would want to steal it either.  
  
Harry then went over to the books and saw that many of the books held much knowledge about magic that would put Hogwarts to shame. There obviously weren't stuff about recent magic, but a lot of the magic that were forgotten by general public. The knowledge that only scholars and people like Voldemort and Dumbledore would know. Still even with a quick glance of the books told him that it only held "light" magic. They were powerful, but not what he needed.  
  
He looked around and noticed a chest/trunk. It held many locks on the end, like the trunk he saw Moody have at the end of his 4th year. He noticed there were no keys, and saw that the locks weren't opened by keys. It was like the locks on a door, you only twisted the lock on the door to unlock or lock it. Harry guessed that's how this trunk worked also.  
  
He opened all of the compartments, 4 in total and looked in them all. There were less compartment then Moody's but he got it for free. The first compartment was normal, and the next two were rooms the size of a small bedroom. The last one held an incredibly large room, almost as 6 times the size of Gryffindor common room. There were even stairs decending to each of the last three rooms. He vaguely wondered how he was going to put so a whole bookcase of books in a trunk.  
  
"Grintor, how would you suggest that I put these books in that trunk over there," Here Harry pointed, "without having myself exhausted, and also letting it be time sufficient?"  
  
"I could do it for you Mr. Potter, if you allow. I am used to such requests and do it often. It's my specialty actually to transport large amount of objects." The goblin said.  
  
"Thank you, you may, I would like to store the books into the second compartment if you may."  
  
The goblin raised its hand and seemed to concentrate. The bookshelf with around a 100 books rose in the air and rose to the trunk. There it shrunk before entering the trunk. Harry couldn't see the rest so he walked up to the trunk. He looked inside and noticed that the bookshelf and books were the normal size and placed at the side of the small room. He thanked the goblin and closed the trunk. He looked around once again and noticed that Tonks were looking at the weapons.  
  
"You can take one you know; it'll probably be helpful sooner or later in your work." Harry called out.  
  
"No thanks Harry, I can get a dagger or knife anytime. I don't need to take it from your vault." Tonks said.  
  
"Some have magical properties with them though, I can feel it." Harry said.  
  
"Oh really? Like what?" Tonks said, looking at the weapons again with renewed interest.  
  
"Don't know, I can just feel the presence of the magic, can't tell what's on it." Harry said truthfully.  
  
"Oh well that sucks, for all I know the weapon might have a blow-back charm on it." Tonks said.  
  
"A what?" Harry said.  
  
"It's a charm that makes anyone that uses it to get blasted back as if with a strong banishing charm, or a rather tame Reductor spell.  
  
"Oh... yeah that does suck." Harry said.  
  
He once again started looking around when he saw one book that wasn't collected. It wasn't with the others and it was just sitting on a platform that was next to the entrance of the door. He walked up to it wondering what that it was all about. He stopped in front of the book and opened it. The first page had an introduction to the purpose of the book.  
  
This book is to help those who are of the Potter Blood to get what he needs and to find what he needs. This book holds information about all objects that are within the vault, except for the money as they should be self-explanatory. It holds the information of the object. If you place this book on an object or the object on a left page of the open book, it will give information of the object.  
  
"Hey Tonks I think we've found the solution to your problem." Harry called to Tonks.  
  
He brought the book towards Tonks and the weapons. As he opened the book to somewhere in the middle, he brought the daggers and knife out. He placed the daggers on the left page of the book as told, and immediately lines were forming on the right.  
  
**Name: Twin Fangs  
  
Item: Double Bladed Duel Dagger  
  
Creation: August 15 1629  
  
Ability(s): The Daggers are of silver cooled within first Holy Water, then Non-Blunting Potion, and after that Non-Rusting Potion. It is incredibly lethal against Vampires and Werewolves. The Dagger is layered with poison that is non-lethal to humans, but leaves the victim in a state full of agony and pain. The lasting pain will not cause damage to the brain, only leave the incapable of doing anything physical and magical because the pain is too great. The pain is curable only by Phoenix Tears or the Soothing of Suffering (2) mixed with holy water. The Dagger can be keyed to a user by dropping three drops of their blood to the hilt of each dagger. Then say the spell "Ligo Duo Nam Unus(3)" This keys the Dagger to you until your heart ceases to pump and your blood ceases to flow. The Dagger will then never harm the user. Also when keyed, only the user may hold the Daggers without it burning the individual, although magic may be used on the daggers by others to lift the Daggers.**  
  
"Damn, that's nice." Harry said. He then placed his knife on it.  
  
**Name: Merlin's Mercy  
  
Item: Double Bladed Curved Knife  
  
Creation: July 1 989  
  
Ability(s): Steel knife that was cooled in Phoenix Tears, Non-Blunting Potion, and Non-Rusting Potion. The Knife is layered with The Draught of Sleeping Death, rendering the victim into a state of coma until wakened by the counter potion, Wake From Eternal Slumber. The Phoenix Tears allows the cuts to automatically heal, leaving no physical indication of attack, only the victim going into a coma. The Knife can be keyed to the user by adding three drops of blood to the hilt and speaking the incantation "Ligo Duo Nam Unus." The Knife will then never affect the user.  
**  
  
"Well, that's kind of tame... I guess if I have to use that against someone I want to bring in alive yeah..." Harry said. "Needless to say this weapon won't be used that often."  
  
"Hey Tonks, got a weapon you want to try?" Harry said.  
  
"Nah, I still think it's yours and I shouldn't take any."  
  
"Well if you want you can have this knife it's rather really nifty, but a bit bland for my taste." Harry said to Tonks. "Here read what it does."  
  
Harry let Tonks look at the book, while he searched for other things that had magical essence. He went to the jewelry section and noticed that a few had magical properties also. He grabbed some of the rings, earrings, bracelet, and a couple necklaces.  
  
"Uhhh, Tonks can you bring the book here?" Harry called to Tonks.  
  
"Ok." Tonks said. Tonks brought the book to where Harry was sitting with a handful of jewelry around him. She laid the book down and put her hand to his shoulders. Harry looked at Tonks to see what was going on.  
  
"I'm sorry for earlier; I wasn't trying to control your life or anything and I sure as hell don't see you as a child, I just wanted you to make sure you really knew what you were doing. I just want you to be safe and not do anything stupid. So that it isn't something that you might look back at and say 'God I'm stupid.' It's just that I care about you and I don't want you to get hurt or anything." Tonks said.  
  
"Hurt by signing a contract?" Harry asked with a grin. "I'm probably in more danger with you driving."  
  
Tonks hit Harry upside the head.  
  
"Thanks... So did you choose to keep the Knife?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yeah, it sounds useful." Tonks said.  
  
"Great, now let's check these jewels. You can have some of these too, I'm dead sure I'm not going to be wearing some of these jewels, especially the feminine ones." Harry said.  
  
"Umm... aren't you giving me too much, you already gave me a Knife." Tonks said unsure.  
  
"Look, if some of these things can help you when you're putting yourself in danger, then I'll gladly give it to you. Besides you were Sirius favorite cousin, so I have to watch out for you, right?" Harry smirked.  
  
Tonks laughed. "Oh that's rich a 16 year old looked out for a 22 year old."  
  
"Your 22?" Harry said.  
  
"Oh damn it, can't believe I said that." Tonks said.  
  
Harry focused on the looking up all the jewelry, while talking to her. "That means you went to Hogwarts?"  
  
"Yeah, I was 6th year when you when, you were so adorable when you first got sorted." Tonks said.  
  
Harry blushed, "Shut up NYMPHadora."  
  
Tonks also blushed, but smacked Harry once again on the head.  
  
"Well you can check the ones you want and see their abilities or you can check them all and go for the abilities. I already got mine, so don't hold back in choosing any." Harry said, while looking over his item.  
  
He got a single white-gold earring that had a Griffin for the figure piece. He also got a ring that had a picture of a Grim on silver, and a necklace that was made out of platinum and had a ruby figure piece.  
  
**Name: Ear of Griffin  
  
Item: Earring  
  
Creation: December 21 1971  
  
Ability(s): To allow hearing over distances. The wearer must focus on the person and imagine himself near the person. The result is having the wearer hear everything as if they were actually there. Confusing at first but with experiment and practice, it becomes easier.**  
  
**Name: Foresight of Grim  
  
Item: Ring  
  
Creation: January 4 1979  
  
Ability(s): Senses if a person if lying, and warms up letting only the wearer feel it as long as the person is lying. A person with occulamency will be immune to this and any other lie detectors. However it is rare for a person to set up occulamency if he is not expecting anything from the wearer, so unless the person is paranoid the ring will detect lies. It senses anything that is lying within a two meter radius. Must focus on the person to see if they are lying or not. The focus does not have to be extreme, just something above the level of disinterest.**  
  
Harry particularly liked this one. It was the only jewel that had this ability, and it would help with a lot of deceptions within his life.  
  
**Name: Blessing of the Dragon  
  
Item: Necklace  
  
Creation: March 3 1920  
  
Ability(s): Raises the wearer's resistance to magic to a higher degree. The resistance goes well against simple spells, or spells that do not have a lot of power behind it. Can be added to other natural magic resistors, such as dragon hide coating, but cannot be used with spells or potions. If a potion or spell they counteract with the necklace rendering the necklace useless.**  
  
Harry looked up and saw that Tonks chose hers already. She got a silver bracelet. She said that the bracelet provided magical resistance.  
  
"Ok, I think that I've spent enough time here I'll just get my trunk." Harry said. Harry brought the trunk over and put the book on it to know the full degree of abilities it had.  
  
**Name: N/A  
  
Item: Trunk  
  
Creation: December 24 1980  
  
Ability(s): Can story vast amount of objects in four compartments. Is also fire resistant, and has a higher resistance to damage and magic then normal. The Trunk can also transfigure itself to an onyx ring that form to the size of the wearer by the user touching the Trunk and saying "Descresco (5)" and to change it back, touch the ring and say "Augeo. (6)" The Trunk also has an anti-theft charm, allowing only the user to use the Trunk, the spell required for this is "Nihil Abigo. (7)" The Trunk will then recognize the user's special magical signature in order to open the trunk. If the person dies, then the magic surrounding the trunk dissolves. The Trunk also has a permanent weight fixture spell to have the Trunk at one weight and an individual weight for the ring. It is to not get anybody suspicious if anyone, Muggle presumably, carries the Trunk and it weighs like the ring.**  
  
Harry decided to do the spell now and key the trunk to him. "Nihil Abigo." A stream of gray light followed to the Trunk surrounding it. The light then seemed to be absorbed by the Trunk. Harry walked up the trunk and touched it, "Decresco." The trunk transformed into an onyx ring and Harry put it on his index finger. Harry also put on the grim ring on his index finger on his other hand. Harry put on the necklace, and decided to get an ear piercing later.  
  
He and Tonks exited the vault after an incredibly long time, and soon found themselves in the main hall of Gringotts again. Harry looked towards Grintor, who said nothing, but just pointed to the far left of the room this time.  
  
Harry and Tonks reached the left side of the hall where a minute goblin was writing something on a parchment.  
  
"Excuse me." Harry said.  
  
"Yes?" The goblin looked annoyed.  
  
"I'm looking to obtain a grab bag." Harry said.  
  
The goblin looked Harry over and laughed. "Hahaha, wizard you are wasting my time."  
  
Harry was about to draw his wand, but held himself back. "I'm from the Potter vault GOBLIN so let me get a fucking grab bag." With that he slammed the key onto the desk the goblin had the parchment on.  
  
The goblin was grumbling as he reached down and grabbed the key. As he examines it, the goblin's eyes seemed to pop out for a moment, yet the goblin controlled its expression once again, looking indifferent. It didn't matter, Harry saw it either ways, and smirked.  
  
"Yes, of course Mr. Potter if you would just sign the parchments I'm about to bring, to state your legal owning of such a thing. I'll also explain how the parchment works when you've signed it. Would you also be looking for the muggle version of the grab bad?"  
  
"The muggle version, like a credit card you mean, or a bag with muggle cash in it?" Harry asked,  
  
"No, no, that would look to out of the ordinary. It is a credit card, and we will also give you a faked license to allow you to use it." The goblin said.  
  
Harry nodded and the goblin seemed to scramble away.  
  
The goblin soon returned with two, two feet of parchment, where he was instructed to sign in several places. The goblin explained that the grab bag required the user, who's magic would be keyed to the grab bag under the contract that the user was now signing, to speak the amount of the gold the user wants and to reach into the bag. It was rather simple yet ingenious, the goblin also told him there was a limit of drawing only 20,000 galleons before having to renew the drawing with a goblin or to wait a week for the drawing limit to refresh, supposedly in case the user was being robbed and forced to draw money.  
  
The credit card required the person to swipe his finger along the botton side of the credit card within two minutes before giving it to the cashier. The swiping would be to activate the credit card with the user's magical residue; the credit card would be keyed to only the user once the user signs the contracts. This would prevent a robber to do anything with the credit card.  
  
Harry finished everything and a black bag, with a Gringotts crest, and a simple looking platinum credit card came up along with his supposed license. He grabbed the license and it read him to be 18, with almost all the other information's the same. It had a picture of Harry that didn't move, obviously, that he never knew he took.  
  
He grabbed the bag and the credit card and thanked the goblin. He left the store, intending to spend a load of cash today. He didn't need robes even though he did need clothes, but he wondered if Madam Malkines had boots. It was clothing and boots would go rather well with her robes, or so he thought. Harry walked into the store and asked if they had dragon hide boots. Madam Malkines said yes and directed him over to the side of the store.  
  
He picked out a completely black dragon hide boot and paid for them. He enlarged his trunk and placed them in there. He went to Ollivander's Maker of Fine Wands.  
  
He entered the dingy store with Tonks in tow. He felt pretty annoyed with having Tonks constantly trailing him, without even looking inconspicuous. He stood in the store for a minute before the old somewhat insane-looking man came out.  
  
"Ah... Mr. Potter. This is a rather unusual surprise. I did not think that you had any troubles with your wand, but I somewhat expected you to come again." Ollivander said.  
  
"Yes, I need a second wand and two wand holsters if you have any." Harry said.  
  
"Is this presumably because of the Prior Incantatem you have with your brother wand?" Ollivander said.  
  
Harry didn't know how the creepy old man knew, he guessed either it was from Dumbledore or from the fact that he made wands so he should know all the pros and cons of wands. It could even be both for all he cared.  
  
"It is that somewhat, also to have a spare wand in case of getting my first taken away." Harry said.  
  
"Ah is that so Mr. Potter. Yes always good to be prepared. However you must know that the wizard and witch carry the magic, not the wand..." Ollivander stated mysteriously.  
  
"I figured as much, as muggles can't do magic even with wands." Harry said sarcastically.  
  
"You do not understand what I mean right now, but maybe you will in the future, maybe not..." He said again in that of so annoying mysterious tone of his.  
  
"I'll be sure to try and figure out what you mean, but could you let me try and find a compatible second wand? I know that the first took an awful long while." Harry said.  
  
Ollivander smiled in amusement and went to the back where he stored his wands. He was occasionally mumbling and such, and gave a bit of news that surprised Harry.  
  
"Well as you know Mr. Potter, I was there at the wand weighing at the Tri- wizard Tournament. As you can remember, I have met Ms. Delacour and found out the core of her rather temper mental wand. So in that time I have tried many more combinations of cores then the usual dragon heartstring, phoenix feather, and unicorn hair. I have also searched for many more trees to find the channeling property of the magic that the wands provide. I have also been experimenting with combination of cores and tried to see which would be best. Many of the cores seems to diminish the properties of the other, unless fixed in the right wood. While it was a long and a lot of guessing and testing process, the end results of the ones that worked were marvelous. It almost like finding a diamond in the rough. With a 100 bad wands, came 1 powerful wand. Hmm... yes so you can see I have more different type of wands then before, however it was a shame that these new more powerful wands never got chosen. It seemed that many of the people that come in here, always seem to get their wands before I come to the more powerful section of my wands. So since we know that you have practically tried everyone of my previous wands, let's jump to these shall we?" With that Ollivander brought 10 boxes of wands out.  
  
He laid them spread out in the counter in front of Harry. He opened the first box and said. "Here you go, Rowan, 11 ¾ inch, with Veela hair, and Griffin feather. The Rowan is supposedly the tree of protection, vision, and visions. Give the wand a wave will you."  
  
Harry grabbed the wand and waved, the entire bookself exploded behind Ollivander.  
  
"No, that definitely isn't the wand you're looking for, but it's powerful, yes?"  
  
"Frighteningly so." Harry said.  
  
"Ah, but that's one of the weaker wands that I have... Let's try, Amber Tree, 10 ½ inch, with phoenix feather and Veela feather. Give it a wave."  
  
Harry grabbed it and the wand felt warm, but not right.  
  
"Well, the wand is rather good with elemental magic, from the Amber Tree and presumably fire with the phoenix feather and Veela hair, but it's not exactly right for you. Hmm... How about we try this wand... It has Elder, 12 inches, and with the combination of grounded basilisk scale and the hair of a Nundu. I shudder remembering what I had to do to get these ingredients. Give it a wave."  
  
Harry did and a light that was interwined with black, green, and silver came out. Harry felt at the moment very cold, but it wasn't a bad cold, more like a cold that clears the mind. Like taking a cold shower after sleeping, it woke his senses and made Harry feel more... aware. Olivander clapped while having a haunted look in his eyes.  
  
"That is one of my most powerful wands. From the Elder of the wand it symbolizes the beginning and the end, of many things, so I can presume you will play a very significant role in this age, which goes without question. The Elder tree is considered to be one of the most holy amongst the old practitioner of magic, the druids. I am sure this wand will serve you well, the question is left to wonder if it will serve others well..." Ollivander said.  
  
"Could I try the other wands, just in case?"  
  
"But of course, I must insist that you do." Ollivander said.  
  
5 minutes later, with many things in the store broken or disheveled, Harry found that no other wands were compatible in the least with him.  
  
"May I get the Amber Tree one also?"  
  
"Why Mr. Potter, your going to have more wands then arms." Here Ollivander laughed. "But of course."  
  
He grabbed the rest of the wands and took them to the back of the room. He returned with three wand holsters.  
  
"Here are three wand holsters, both have been charmed to not let anyone "Accio" the wands or to cast an "Expelliarmus" spell on it. The wand holster goes almost anywhere, and is made of the hide of a recently dead Hungarion Horntail. She was a very old beast and her hide was as dense as can imagine. Very durable, I was only able to get such a deal because of my long time connections with the dragon keeper that managed her. Now if you place it on your wrist it draws your wand to your hand with this wrist movement." Here Ollivander motioned he hand to a certain movement.  
  
"But my wands are over 10 inches each, how do I fit the wand on my wrist where my arm is around 7 inches?"  
  
"Well the wand holster has a charm, you see. It carries a long length then normal. It has a space distortion charm on it. Kind of like most trunks that are sold in Diagon Alley nowadays."  
  
"Oh, thank you, Mr. Ollivander. How much will it be?" Harry said.  
  
"It will be 70 galleons total, 20 for the wand, and 10 each for the wand holster. Also Mr. Potter, do not forget what I have said about the properties of the wand. It is you that control the magic, not the wand." Ollivander said.  
  
"Mr. Ollivander, why is there such a thing as a... wand arm as you said?" Harry asked.  
  
"Well there is truly no wand arm, only the arm you are more familiar with. Most people use their natural writing hand, because they have a better familiarly with their writing hand. After all casting spells with wands, require the correct swishs and flicks. However I'm guessing you can force yourself to learn with your left hand. Just harder you see." Ollivander looked over to Harry to see if he understood.  
  
"Yes, I believe I do understand, oh, Mr. Ollivander could you not tell Dumbledore about this? All of this?" Ollivander nodded and Harry gave him the money needed and turned around.  
  
He strapped two of the wand holster at his wrists. One respectively on his wrist, and he put the last one at his bottom legs. He figured that his hands would be the first place to look for wands, and the legs will be less likely. He put his Holly wand in his right arm, and the Amber in his left. He decided to put his more "sinister" wand in his right leg until he got more familiar with using magic with his left arm.  
  
He looked up from his activity and noticed that Tonks was asleep. It had taken quite a while, but he never expected Tonks to fall asleep from the wait. It seemed that Tonk's metamorphism required her to be conscious to work. Right now it seemed that Harry was seeing the real her, not her with pink, spiked hair, or unnatural colored eyes.  
  
She had a whitish blond hair, that had the same tint of Narcissa Malfoy, and her face seemed more angular and very pale. It seemed as if her appearance were more regal, then her usual happy and trusting face that she had. He decided to wake her up, instead of leaving her in the shop so that he can do what he wished. He knew that he was going to regret it later, but he didn't think leaving her in the store and sleeping would leave her in a very productive state.  
  
Harry shook Tonk's shoulders and yet she still wouldn't wake. Harry got truly annoyed at how heavy a sleeper she was. He then thought this would be the perfect time to try his new wand holster. He backed away and did as Ollivander instructed, his Holly came out easily enough. He let go and it instantly went back into his wand holster. He smirked, he was going to like this. He then tried with his left hand, and after the second try he got the handle of it. He returned the wand also, and took out his Holly once again. He whispered an incantation that conjured a bucket full of ice-cold water. He smirked as he dumped it over her head.  
  
A loud scream made Ollivander scramble back to the front with his wand drawn. As he saw what was going on Ollivander smiled and headed back to what he was doing. Tonks by now was screaming bloody murder, but Harry just rolled his eyes and cast a drying charm on Tonks. She was now dry, but the heating charm that Harry cast on her was starting to fade so she felt cold. She cast a warming charm on herself and grumbled at Harry.  
  
Harry for his part just replaced his wand, laughed and walked out of the store. He walked into Flourish and Blotts with Tonks and cursed. Tonks asked what was wrong, and Harry said he didn't know what books he needed for what classes. Tonks smacked her forehead and pulled something from under her robe. It seemed to be a letter and she gave it to Harry.  
  
Tonks blushed as she said, "Sorry I was supposed to give this to you, but I kind of forgot with all the things that happened today."  
  
Harry opened the letter, and as he expected it was his Owl scoring. 'Dear Mr. Potter, blah, blah, blah, where's the damn- oh!'  
  
  
  
**OWL Score  
  
O – 3 OWLS, Oustanding E – 2 OWLS, Exceeds Expectation A – 1 OWLS, Average D – 0 OWLS, Dismal T – -1 OWLS, Troll  
  
(P) – Practical (T) – Theory (O) – Overall  
  
3 Dismals, 2 Trolls, or 2 Dismals and 1 Troll will require retake of the whole year. If you get a Dismal or Troll in any subject but pass, tutoring or summer help will be required to stay in class.  
  
Potions (P) – O Potions (T) – E Potions (O) – O  
  
Transfigurations (P) – O Transfigurations (T) – E Transfigurations (O) – O  
  
Charms (P) – O Charms (T) – O Charms (O) – O  
  
Divination (P) – A Divination (T) – T Divination (O) – D  
  
Herbology (P) – E Herbology (T) – E Herbology (O) – E  
  
Defense against Dark Arts (P) – O Defense against Dark Arts (T) – O Defense against Dark Arts (O) – O  
  
History of Magic (P) – N/A History of Magic (T) – D History of Magic (O) – D  
  
Care of Magical Creatures (P) – E Care of Magical Creatures (T) – A Care of Magical Creatures (O) – E  
  
(Mr. Potter the O you have received in DADA was because of you marvelous Corporeal Patronus, which gives you a 4 instead of a 3 for points)  
  
You have a total of (18) OWL(s)  
  
You may take the follow NEWT preparation classes: Potions, DADA, Transfiguration, CoMC, Herbology, Charms.  
**  
  
  
"Awesome... Wow that's a good score Harry." Tonks, who was reading over Harry's shoulders, said.  
  
Harry walked over to the counter and told the worker that he needed the 6th year books for Potions, DADA, Transfiguration, CoMC, Herbology, and Charms. The worker came back and rang up the total which was 30 galleons. He gave the money and grabbed the books. He didn't want others the see his trunk yet so he just ended up carrying it.  
  
Harry was wondering how stupid he could be, there were countless books in here that might help him in some way, but what if he already had the books he needed in his personal library? He decided to come back to Diagon Alley sometime soon again, so that he may get some more books. He exited the bookstore again and looked around.  
  
He walked to the Apothecary and entered. He got what he decided was a fare potions supply for 6th year and exited. He then walked to past Knockturn Alley when something caught his eyes. It was a shop with the sign "Magical Eye Enhancement." It wasn't in Knockturn Alley, but it wasn't entirely in Diagon Alley either. He walked into the store with Tonks trailing reluctantly after him.  
  
Harry walked up to the counter and saw an attractive witch in her mid 30's standing there.  
  
"What can I do for you?" She asked.  
  
"Your store says magical eye enhancement? What does it mean?" Harry asked.  
  
"Well, I can fix that glasses problem of yours, and provide some 'extra' feature for it also." The woman said.  
  
"I'll need to fix my eyes, and after we'll see what we can do about the 'extra' that you're talking about."  
  
"It'll be 500 galleons. Expensive, however I can guarantee that it'll work."  
  
Harry gave the money needed to the witch and she in turn gave him a potion. He looked at it wearily and drank it. It was tasteless, but thick. It was a disgusting feeling. However the moment it hit his stomach, his sight seemed to fade slowly. He was about to use what little vision he had to blast the witch for tricking him, but her voice stopped him.  
  
"This is just the process; the potion allows your eye's to restart. I will be using my magic to "regrow" your eyesight to make it perfect. But I needed the potion to actually set your eyes back in dormant stage. This might feel... painful..."  
  
Harry didn't know what was going on, but he felt his glasses come off. Then he "felt" magic hitting his eyes. It wasn't painful or anything, but it was tingly. He didn't know how long he was waiting but his vision started to return. Everything came back into focus, and it hurt his eyes. Too much light he guess, almost like getting glasses for the first time.  
  
He looked up to the witch and she looked at Harry weird, and he looked back at her with the same amount of confusion. She shrugged it off and asked if he wanted the extra features.  
  
"What are those?"  
  
"Well I'll charm your eyes, to see through invisibility cloaks and see past objects. You will be able to control it after a while or you'll go mad with seeing past people not at them. I also will only do it to one eye, so that you can tell the difference between the real deal, and the magical eye. Trust me after this you will never be blind again, unless someone blasts your eye out that is." She said with morbid humor.  
  
Tonks gasped, and the witch looked at her and narrowed her eyes.  
  
"An Auror, shit." The lady said.  
  
"Yes, and you're violating code-", Tonks started while raising her wand.  
  
"Shut up Tonks! This could very well fucking save me my life, and I'll "Obliviate" you if I have to!" Harry said, angry at being denied this privilege, this edge. It didn't matter that he had no idea how to cast an Obliviate spell, but he was willing to try in his anger.  
  
Harry turned around and asked how much it was.  
  
"1000 for the charm, want it?" The lady asked impressed with him.  
  
"Yeah, but why are you willing to do this, I mean you can't be so stupid as to just tell everyone that comes here of your offer, right?" Harry asked.  
  
"You may not know it, or you may just be playing stupid, but your face is easily recognizable Mr. Potter. I for one believe that you will need every edge you can get to survive." She said.  
  
Harry just nodded and told her to do the charm, while giving her the money. He then looked at her again as she pointed her wand into his face.  
  
"Which eye would you prefer?"  
  
"Which eye would you prefer, you should know." Harry said.  
  
The wand focused to Harry's right eye and a charm was cast on it. Harry was still for several minutes when she said it was over. He couldn't tell anything different, and just stared at her. He didn't know how it worked, but the ladies clothes just started to melt. Harry immediately blushed and turned around. The lady instead of hitting him or anything, laughed.  
  
"So I guessed it worked?" She said amused.  
  
"God, I do hope I can control this..." Harry said.  
  
Then he turned around and shook the lady's hand.  
  
"Thanks you Ms..." Harry said.  
  
"It's Mrs. Zabani." She said with a smirk.  
  
"Thank you Mrs. Zabani, have a nice day." Harry turned around and exited the store in a hurry. Tonks trailed behind looking confused. He was getting tired of carrying his books by now so he decided to screw what others thought. He took off his trunk/ring and enlarged it. He opened the first compartment and put his books in there.  
  
He then shrunk it again and placed it on his finger. He then turned around and looked directly at Tonks.  
  
"Tonks, can I trust you?" Harry looked directly into her eyes.  
  
Tonks for the most part felt uncomfortable at how intense his stare was. She squirmed a little before saying, "Depends."  
  
"Can I trust you to not say anything about what happened today or what will happen today?" Harry asked with utmost seriousness  
  
"What do you mean will?" Tonks asked.  
  
"Can I trust you?" Harry asked just as forceful as before.  
  
"Depends, if you're going to do something stupid, then I can't trust you." Tonks said.  
  
"I'm going into Knockturn Alley, I don't want you to tell anyone what I do in there."  
  
"What!" Here others started to look so Tonks lowered her voice. "Are you stupid? You'll get killed!"  
  
"I know what I'm doing Tonks, I won't be killed. I'm more worried if you'll tell the Order." Harry said.  
  
"Yes I will tell the damn Order that you willingly went into Knockturn Alley. Why the hell would you even go in there?" Tonks said.  
  
"Revenge." Harry coldly. "I'm going to get the bitch that got Sirius. Right now I can't, but if I go to Knockturn Alley, I'll stand a better chance of doing that."  
  
"What do you mean, let the Order take care of her, you shouldn't worry about her." Tonks said.  
  
"I'm going whether you like it or not, you won't stop me. I'm only worried that you'll tell that ass that leads your Order." Harry said with conviction.  
  
"Harry..." Tonks sounded half pleading, half whining, "I can't lie to Dumbledore."  
  
"Then don't lie, just don't say anything. If he asks about my day, tell him that I had a fun time, got my books, and was glad to be away from the Dursley. That sure as hell won't be a lie." Harry said easily.  
  
"What if he asks-", Tonks got interrupted.  
  
"You think he'll ask 'Tonks did Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, the wizarding world's scapegoat, go into Knockturn Alley, found his Family Vault which I've tried to hide, got emancipated, and got illegal eye sight charms?" Harry asked. "Actually you will have to tell him about my emancipation because he'll probably already know. The goblins must have already sent him a letter telling of him no longer being my contact."  
  
"But..." Tonks said.  
  
"Tonks, I'm going if it will ease your mind then just wait at Florence's Ice Cream Parlor for me." Harry said rolling his eyes.  
  
"Like hell, it's bad enough you're so content on going, there is no way you're going alone." Tonks said.  
  
"Whatever, will you tell the Order or not?" Harry said.  
  
"I'll... try not to say anything... but they might go to drastic measures to figure out what went on." Tonks said.  
  
"...As long as you try. I'm only doing this because I have to." Harry said.  
  
Harry conjured a black hooded cloak and put it on. Harry then turned and walked into Knockturn Alley. He put his hood up so as to not be recognized. And he was sure that it covered everything but his lips and chin.  
  
As he walked down the alley, he couldn't believe he was scared the first time he went there. It was so different from now, now he didn't feel any fear at such low lives. They were nothing compared to Voldemort and he sure as hell wasn't going to be intimidated by some group of hags, and wanna-be vampires.  
  
They tried to scare him, and taunt him. He for the most part sneered and moved on. Tonks seemed somewhat intimidated but he paid her no mind. She just trailed after him. He soon found the store that he wanted and entered. It was the same store that he entered in the summer of his 2nd year.  
  
"Borgin and Burkes" was as dusty and infested with dark objects as usual. The store was stuffy and he stiffly waited for the Mr. Borgin. He wasn't disappointed as the sleezy sad excuse for a man entered from the back room.  
  
"What may I do for you Mr...?" Borgin said.  
  
"My name is none of you concern, your only concern should be how we can help each other out. I have no specific on what I'm looking for, however I would like to see all the books you have in this... establishment." Harry said with a sneer.  
  
"Right away sir..." Borgin went into the back again. He soon came back and dumped 10 books on the counter and went back and brought 8 more.  
  
"That... is all?" Harry asked disbelievingly.  
  
"Well... there are more-"Borgin couldn't finish his sentence for Harry interrupted him once again.  
  
"It would be in the best interest of your health to let me see ALL the books you have Mr. Borgin." Harry said coldly.  
  
Borgin seem to have built his courage up and said, "How do I know you aren't just an undercover Auror?"  
  
"You don't... But how can we solve that?" Harry asked.  
  
"I want you to cast the cruciatus curse on me." Borgin said without a doubt. "That way if you are an undercover Auror you'll go to Azkaban."  
  
Tonks who have been keeping oddly silent up till now spoke up. "Don't do it H-"  
  
Harry interrupted coldly, "DON'T finish that sentence woman." Harry looked towards Borgin and replied, "How do I know that you aren't already caught by the Aurors and everything right now is a set up to save your own ass and send me to Azkaban?"  
  
Borgin thought about it for a moment. "No Auror would think with that type of logic... Alright I give, I'll get the books."  
  
True to his words Borgin brought back 30 more books. Harry skimmed most of the books and was very pleased with most of what he found. He even found a book about Parseltongue. He smiled in triumph. The rest of the books that Borgin brought before were mostly useless. He got one book that told about the tactics of Aurors and Death Eaters but left the rest.  
  
"How much for everything on this pile but these two," Here Harry raised two books, "and getting this book?"  
  
"That would be... 1500 galleons..." Borgin smiled sinisterly.  
  
Harry handed Borgin 1500 galleons plus a hundred more.  
  
"Do shut up about this. I'll know otherwise..." Harry said. Borgin then went into the back again and left Harry and Tonks there alone. Harry enlarged his trunk and levitated his books to his bookshelf in his second compartment. He then closed it and returned it to a ring. He placed the ring back on and left without a word.  
  
He and Tonks soon reached Diagon Alley once more and Harry took off his hood but kept his robes. He walked to Florence's Ice Cream and order a sundae, with Tonks ordering Strawberry Cheesecake Icecream.  
  
They both got their orders and took a seat. They both ate their ice creams in silence.  
  
"So... what do you want to do now?" Tonks added.  
  
"What time is it, damn. I should probably get a watch been laying it off for such a long time now." Harry said. "Then I'm going to go shopping," Tonks looked bewildered, "in the muggle world. I refuse to wear these rags anymore."  
  
Tonks looked at the clothing that was under his robes and nodded  
  
"Damn straight." Tonks said.  
  
"Well let's go and get be a watch, know any place that sells watches?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yeah, but hold on, I'm not done with MY ice cream." Tonks whined. "Just because you eat like a pig, doesn't mean I can eat that fast."  
  
"Oy! I do not eat like a pig, that's my cousin that eats like a pig." Harry said.  
  
Tonks laughed and nodded her head. Harry was glad that she changed the subject, he really didn't want to explain anything to her, just wanted to ignore it for now.  
  
"Done!" Tonks exclaimed.  
  
"You have too much energy for your own good." Harry said dryly. "So where is it?"  
  
"Well it's by Gringotts, well to like the left of it."  
  
"Okay, than let's go there."  
  
Tonks led the way with Harry following for once. They reached a rather small store that had a lot of watches. There were a lot of varieties also. Harry and Tonks reach the owner of the store who seemed to be making a watch at the moment.  
  
Harry and Tonks waited patiently. Well Tonks waited somewhat patiently, and Harry was about to yell at the man. Harry was never one for patience. He was irked when anything delayed him. He hated to admit but Snape was right, he was impulsive: never patient, never thoughtful, and always rushing in to things. He was going to try and change that, even if it killed him.  
  
The owner finally looked up. "May I help you?" He said.  
  
Harry was about to scream 'No Shit' to the guy, but wisely didn't. "Yes I am looking for a watch, hopefully with magical qualities with them."  
  
"Yes, what type of watch are you looking for Mr..."  
  
"Potter... I am looking for a more... muggle watch, a wrist watch actually. One that is durable and isn't really too flashy, yet stylish." Harry said confidently.  
  
"Okay Mr. Potter, if you would follow me I may have the things you are looking for. Hmm... Look at these things if you will..." The owner brought out a tray with 10 muggle looking watches.  
  
"Are they water resistant? Fire resistant?" Harry asked.  
  
"Oh everyone of them are water resistant, all but the last one are fire resistant." The owner said. "I presume that with your... reputation that you would need something to help in case of danger..." The owner said gravely.  
  
"Of course..." Harry answered thinking that his reputation was too much cons rather then pros.  
  
"Then I have a watch that should help you tremendously. This watch is rather experimental actually. It's actually one of my latest versions, Muggle also, coincidently. The watch here..." The owner pointed a watch that he recently pulled out. "I suspect it would help you tremendously, it has a portkey function. The thing is, the portkey is a more stable version then the regular charmed object. It's undetectable and activated by a set password. It's not a one time thing either so I don't think you will just throw the watch away after one time. Here I'll give you an instruction manual for the watch, much more simple. Do you want it? If so it'll be 30 galleons." The owner said looking at the watch with pride.  
  
Harry handed the money over and reached out for the watch. The owner gave it to him and a stack of paper, for what he guessed was the manual. Harry nodded thanks, and was about to exit when the owner spoke.  
  
"Thank you Mr. Potter. I always believed in you, my daughter is going to Hogwarts. After all the things I've heard from her about you I knew that you couldn't believe anything from those papers. I think her quote was, "He's rash and a griffindork but he's still a goody two shoe griffindork." Also helps from the fact that my daughter, and I are from Slytherin so we know all the biased opinions from others." Harry looked ashamed at those words but the owner just smiled.  
  
"I'm sorry, I was one-"  
  
"No hard feelings Mr. Potter, no ones perfect." The owner concluded.  
  
Harry turned around and shook the man's hand. "Thank you Mr..."  
  
"It's Greengrass."  
  
"Thank you for believing in me and helping me Mr. Greengrass."  
  
Harry put on his watch and adjusted the time to the times on the wall. He then exited the door, while stuffing the manual in his oversized jeans. He was in deep thought at the moment, truly re-evaluating his priorities. He wondered if carrying bitterness for the wizarding world for the acts of the majority, but not all, was right. Then he would be like Tom Riddle, and all the conceited Pro-pureblood people in the magical world, who believed the actions of a few muggles can lead to the discrimination of anything muggle.  
  
Harry had his head hurting from the thought of it. He truly did despise those that blatantly mocked and jeered at him. But who were those people? Who truly hated him and who were putting on poker faces the whole time? Harry knew that Seamus' mom thought him crazy, but if Seamus didn't say anything, then how would he have ever known?  
  
Maybe the easiest thing to do is always be wary of people. Never fully trust anyone, but that was such a lonely and more Moody-like life. He could never imagine living by himself and shooting spell's at the slightest noise. Harry shook his head. Just bull-shit it. Don't think about it, just live.  
  
"Harry? You okay?" Tonks asked as Harry was in deep thought.  
  
"Umm... yeah sure. Let's go to the muggle world now, I think I'm ready." Harry said.  
  
Harry and Tonks exited the Diagon Alley, handing the badges over to the Auror and went shopping again in the muggle world. As Harry entered the driveway to Privet Drive Number 4 he got 10 black khakis, 5 pairs of black running shorts, 5 black t-shirts, 5 black long sleeve shirts, 10 boxers (black), 10 black pairs of socks, and 2 sets of running shoes that were black. Harry thought he looked goth but shrugged it off.  
  
He and Tonks went up to his room and settled everything, not that there were much mind you. The trunk really helped with transportation of a lot of materials. Tonks was about to leave when she remembered something.  
  
"Oh yeah! I was supposed to give you this at the end of our day only. Here you go..." Tonks pulled out a small box the size his finger nail.  
  
"Thanks I guess..." Harry said looking at the box with amusement.  
  
"Well Mr. Potter, looks can be deceiving can't it?" Tonks said. She pointed her wand at the object and enlarged it. As it grew in size so did the details. Harry could clearly see that it was a present now that it was back to its original size. "Happy Birthday Harry... This was from Sirius... He saved up for quite a while to get you this... Don't know what it is, but he put a lot of time to getting it." Tonks kissed Harry on the cheek and left without another word.  
  
Harry looked at the box in anticipation and sorrow. After trying so hard to push away the memory of Sirius, to try and push him and guilt away from his mind. The box that was in front of him made him remember. Harry was filled with grief, but he refused to cry. No, hell would freeze over before he cried. He had to be strong, to avenge Sirius... to avenge Cedric ...to avenge his parent. Heaven be damned before he broke.  
  
Harry cautiously walked up to the box and slowly opened the wrappers. He didn't want to rip it or anything. Anything that was from Sirius was precious in his mind. He knew he was being stupid, it was just a god damn wrapping paper. A horribly bland one at that, but it was still from Sirius. So Harry got to the actual box an incredibly long time after. He opened the box and looked inside. There was a letter that was placed over some sort of fabric.  
  
Harry took out the letter first and opened it. Harry took out the letter with shaky fingers. He half expected the letter to be a howler yelling at him for causing Sirius' death. Harry knew it was stupid, even if Sirius blamed him for the death, he would have been dead after he wrote it. Harry unfolded the letter and looked at the writing.  
  
**Hello Pup,  
  
How are you doing Harry? By the time you get this, it'll be your birthday. Happy 16th birthday by the way. Ahh... what a special day a 16th birthday is for a teenage boy. Anyways what you will find inside is a rather... expensive gift. I know, I know, you'll probably be saying that I shouldn't have been wasting my money and such, and you'll probably be writing a letter to me to chaste me. Just know that anything spent on you is worth it Pup. I bet your wondering why I'm calling you Pup huh? Well that was my nickname for you when you were little. Since I was your god father and all, so a god son of a Grim would be a pup. Umm... yeah... Well it sounded good at the time, but whatever. Hope those stupid muggles are treating you well, you can scare them into thinking that I'll go over there and kill them or something if they don't. Well the gift I got you is a robe. It's not just any robe either. I don't quite know what it is composed of. I just know the maker of the robe is very well known. Even though he is well known, he rarely makes any of his splendid works anymore. It's a shame really. The only reason I was able to get you the robe was because he I'm innocent, and the fact that your father, Remus, and I had a rather good relationship with him. Well anyhow I was able to get him to make a robe one more time just for you. I got it customed to fit you, but just in case you actually get a growth spurt squirt, he enchanted it to fit at least bigger by 1 foot, and wider by 1 foot. I bet by now your dying to find out what your oh-so-loving godfather got you, huh? Well anyways you know it's a robe, but it's a battle robe. Not even Aurors have these babies. Neither do the OoTP, I can't say I'm surprised at the price of just one. Even took a sizable chunk out of even the Black's Vault, now that's scary. Ok, ok, by now your really frustrated at me building the suspense for such a wonderful gift so I'll tell you what a battle robe truly is. The robe is a really dense yet light and flexible mix of a Ukrainian Ironbelly and a Graphorn. **

**This baby is a work of art. It's so dense that it will probably easily deflect a stunner from an average wizard/witch. It's really, really durable. The time to create such a robe takes at least half a year. Even then there are so few that know's the art to mold the dragon hide to their whim that it's probably a dying art. Kind of like the invisibility cloak, yet this is even more rare then it. The robe changes color to whatever you'll need and has a hood to cover your face. I wouldn't suggest to having it as black then having a hood on. Probably think you're a death either or something. Well the fact that this robe is also very stylish is also an added bonus. Oh did I mention that it has an auto-cleaning potion, can't get dirty. You can wear it everyday of the next... your whole life and it won't stink and stain. Great huh? It also has an auto-repair potion laced onto the fabric so anything that cuts it, although I highly doubt anything can, will have it fix itself. Oh yeah, you can also key the robe so that only you can wear it, obviously something this expensive you don't want other's taking. Since it is of dragon hide and graphorn, you will need to do the blood binding chant or whatever it is called. You have to first find you family crest that I've request be woven into your robe. That will also tell others that it's your, in case you never seen your family crest before it's the little drawing I put at the bottom right of the parchment (Sorry folks I don't have a scanner so I can't show you the picture, just imagine what I wrote before). Well you drop three drops of blood there and say "Ligo Duo Nam Unus" with your wand touching the crest. You should count the drops well because there needs to be three drops and since it will clean itself on impact... Just don't forget you're a smart kid. Well you better appreciate the gift and send me a letter of thanks. I took a lot of time thinking it through.  
  
The Grim **

  
  
Harry looked at the letter fondly. It didn't seem that Sirius had lost all his humour from staying in Azkaban. The humor sounded a bit dry, but that could be expected. The only thing pulling at his heart was all the times Sirius wrote in the letter expecting him to write back. Harry's heart felt empty. Almost as if a black hole appeared in his chest everytime he read his Godfather's reference to Harry communicating with him.  
  
Harry put the letter down and looked into the box. He took out the soft material and examined it. It felt thin and like silk. He couldn't understand how such a material would be able to put up with all that his godfather said. It looked as if Harry himself could tear it to shreds. It didn't matter Harry trusted his Godfather's word without a doubt.  
  
The robe would be useful, but he didn't want to be dependent upon it. He wouldn't just want the robe to be saving his ass if anything happens; Harry wanted his own skills to do it. The robe might be an added bonus but he must never be any less weary. He had to train as if he had no bonuses or helpers, and if he did in certain situations good for him.  
  
Harry enlarged his trunk and put his robe in there, along with his letters. He then stepped inside his second compartment trunk and went in to study and train.  
  
A/N: Damn this story took a long time. I like writing this, but I like writing Gundam Seed more, so this will be updated really slow. Also my Gundam Seed story will update a bit slower, with me having summer school. The damn class is getting so hard now, a chapter a day and a test every other.  
  
(1) I'm using this as the bat-bogey spell. No incantation was given, so I just used the meaning "Growing Bird," There was not Latin word for wings or bat.  
  
(2) A made up potion, which numbs extreme pain and is used for victims of Cruciatus Curse.  
  
(3) "To Bind Two as One"  
  
(4) "Set To Travel"  
  
(5) "Grow Smaller"  
  
(6) "Enlarge"  
  
(7) "To Not Steal"


	2. Chapter 2

Harry Potter and the Tainting of the Light  
  
Chapter 2  
  
A/N: Hmm... I don't own anything. Wow that's repetitive.  
  
  
  
Harry woke up stiffly and got dressed in Dudley's overly large, thin shirt and running trunks. He sat on the floor of his somewhat neat room and stretched his sore legs well. He then stood up and stretched again, this time stretching different muscles. He then put on his running shoes and went for a run. Harry noticed that there wasn't much light, and it was the air was moist. He went out for 20 minutes and then turned back, running the distance in 18. Harry had been doing this for the last two weeks and slowly but steadily he was improving.  
  
Even now his knees were aching, and his lungs felt like it was on fire. Till now Harry never considered his lungs a muscle; he never considered the constant inflating and deflating of the air in his lungs to require the lungs to do work. But as he felt the spikes of pain every time he breathed too hard, he could see how the lungs were sore from over working it. No matter, in the long run it was good.  
  
He always knew he wasn't fit, his thin arms and build told him so every time he looked in the mirror, but he never thought himself out of shape. He thought quidditch would help him, but his position didn't really require him to have much muscle just speed and flexibility. He returned to the house and entered into his room again making enough noise from his breathing to wake the Dursleys. He literally dropped to the floor in pain and began stretching. He didn't know much about running, except that he was faster then his cousin and friend, which didn't say much, but he wasn't the only one to take it up in the mornings.  
  
It was lucky that a muggle seemed to notice his... inexperience with the routine and the muggle helped him. The guy showed Harry how to run, how not to over stride his legs, how to position the arms to give control but not to waste energy. He also showed Harry how to stretch and what the stretch. It was a kind gesture and Harry tried thanking him but the gratitude was brushed aside.  
  
The guy said he also had to start somewhere, and he was lucky to have started in school; he also said that Harry was rather good at sprints, as the guy had Harry do some sort of workout, but that he lacked stamina. The guy told him the schedule that he thought Harry should keep running at and to keep it up. The guy then jogged away and Harry didn't see hide or hair of him since, Harry didn't even get the guys name. Harry was done stretching by now and took a shower. He changed into clean muggle clothes and went over to his trunk. He opened his trunk to the second compartment and went into it.  
  
The trunk closed on his way in and Harry walked over to the book shelf. He grabbed the book that he had been studying often as of late. It was the book on Occulemency and Legilmency.  
  
The book was very thorough on its in information and Harry seemed to understand the subject of both rather well. Of course he never was able to test himself, so he didn't know if he was learning anything in the art of Occulemency or if Voldemort was keeping to himself. Yet, he understood the material well enough, he understood the information and could grasp the reasoning and theories behind the subject.  
  
Occulemency was more organization of the mind and THEN learning to control it. Harry had no doubt that his will was strong, he stood up to fake Moody and Voldemort under their Imperius Curse, but he knew that his organization of the mind, whatever that meant, was rather poor. At least that was when he first started, now he stored the information in his mind like books in a library. He had memories by section within sections and even more detailed sections within those sections. It helped Harry also bring out information faster, and he guessed that it would definitely help him in school.  
  
He was rather proud of himself at how he progressed; the rest of the process of Occulemency for Harry was easy. The trouble at first, the book explained, was if you looked at the mind in a metaphoric sense, if a person had a room scattered with "books" here and there, and there is a "robber" trying to steal one of the "books," because of the disorganization, the person doesn't know what the "thief" is looking for. However if the person has the "books" in sections, then he or she can figure out what the person is looking for and prevent it. If the person is powerful, the correct phrase being willful, enough, then the person can even trick the "robber" and provide false "books," being lies or forcing the "robber" to view the wrong memories.  
  
Legilmency was, instead of being the guarder of the "books," to be the "robber." The "robber" knew exactly, or rather vaguely, what he wanted to steal. He knew the "books" color, size, etc. After all it was the "robber" who was doing the robbing. Anyhow, there are many types of "robbery," as the book told. There is the outright forceful breaking in of the "library," the sneaking in of the "library," though it takes longer and is rather mind- boggling to master, and there is the window shopping for any "books."  
  
The last part was the most intriguing part; it required the no wand, no incantations, no movement or indication of any kind from the "robber." The thief just needed eye contact with the person, and if the person had weak organization of the mind, in other words not having mastered Occulemency, then the person sort of projects their thoughts out of their eyes. The memories aren't exactly shot into the viewers head, it was more like projecting emotions and very vague information of the memory. Very useful to tell for lies with questions.  
  
Whoever said that the eyes were the windows to a person's soul wasn't kidding. That is another thing with Occulemency. The art of Occulemency itself was to protect the mind of all its memories, its content, therefore a skilled person at Occulemency wouldn't "leak" any of his or her thoughts. So in reality Occulemency had no magic behind it, just the will of the mind. That was why Harry had such a hard level to understand it; Harry was expecting some sort of magic to be helping him defend himself against Snape's intrusions.  
  
Naturally with Occulemency the person should learn to not only keep their emotions in check, but to also have full control over it. Use it to their advantage, if you will, but never let it control the person. Feed off of the anger, but never be addicted to it.  
  
Harry was pleased at how easily he got the book's information and actually understood it. But he couldn't test it, which was the annoying part. He couldn't just go "Legilimens" to himself. He wouldn't do it to his relatives, although he very well wanted to. He didn't want to push himself on how much magic he could do without them going over the top. He explicably told and showed the Dursley, as soon as he returned from Diagon Alley, that he could do magic and they backed off.  
  
He just didn't know if using it on them would go unchallenged by them or the Ministry. Harry didn't actually fear the Dursley, but he feared how much information they could give Dumbledore and the Ministry if he showed them the magic that he did. No doubt the idiots will wonder how he learned such advanced magic. That would lead to investigation, and that was a no- no.  
  
Harry just sighed and put down the book; he had memorized it by heart now and got another book. This was also a book that he was studying hard. It wasn't really teaching any spells, but it explained the theory behind magic. It was an interesting book that gave a new found understanding of magic.  
  
Harry knew that magic wasn't just wand waving and casting spells; he just didn't know what it really was. However the book was most useful in finding the answer to Harry's question.  
  
  
  
Magic is in itself just a form of energy that can be tapped by those of magical blood. This book does not give the history of how magical being came to be, for this writer truly does not know, and has speculations as wild as any other.  
  
I will however go into my feeling of disgust for people who are in their late 20's and beyond and are still using their wands for everything. Wands in the olden days, at the time where wands weren't everyday tools held by every witch and wizard in existence, were just a tool to help new apprentices to get a grasp at the foreign art of magic. It was to help the novices, whom have never felt their own magical core, get the feeling of magic before they learned how to do it without any focuses.  
  
In truth, that is what wands truly are, focuses. Wands only help the wild and hard to tame fury that is magic be easier to tap. The wands nowadays are not only to help the tapping of the magic easier, but it also concentrates the magic so that magic is more stable. If the wand were to be used metaphorically, the wand is like a magnifying glass. To those that do not know what a magnifying glass is, too bad. It is something muggle, so stuck-up purebloods won't know and I don't care. If the reader is such a niave prejudice person that you can't accept and learn not only of the magical world but the muggle world, then I wouldn't even want you to read this.  
  
Well back onto subject, if you know what a magnifying glass is then you have no doubt seen it used to focus the sunlight as a hot beam. Now as for that to happen, the sun provides the energy and the magnifying glass merely focuses it and directs it so that the power coming from the sun is more controlled.  
  
The wand does not provide the energy; it only serves as a lazy and easier way to use the magic within magical people's own blood. Now I'm not saying that wands are horrible, even I can see the uses of wands. It is great for an introductory to magic, but it served to cripple those learning the arts of magic for this generation and many more to come. It is only because people were lazy that they still use wands today for simple and pathetically easy magic. It is not as if magic without a wand is unheard of, magic without a wand is evident for every witch and wizard who lost control of their emotions at such a young age.  
  
  
  
The book had more of the Author's opinions and whatnot, but it took a while before actually getting to the good part. Harry was in the last sections of the book, where the author stated that, after reading his ranting that the reader must actually know the full theory behind magic by now and how to do it without a wand.  
  
Then the Author went on and explained how to actually DO Wand-less Magic. To be told the truth it wasn't all that special in theory. It just required the user to have a strong and well focused mind. It also needed much practice to help rid the habits brought on by using wand magic. It also told the user to go slow, first to go Silent Magic, which was to use magic without saying the spell. Silent Magic was more difficult then regular spell casting, and the author stated that it was to help build a bridge to slowly but surely move the reader to the complexity of Wand-less Magic.  
  
To do Silent Magic, the user must say the incantation within the user's head. In truth, incantations weren't needed; however it helped those using it remember things much easier. It was much better to label magic also, so that spells could be taught to others. Now obviously saying spells within the person's head wasn't as easy as it sounded. If it were, people would be using Silent Magic everywhere. No, the user must fully believe in the concept of Silent Magic, and the fact that the user can actually do it. For Harry, it was like casting the Patronus correctly for the first time. After he knew he could cast it, it was possible. Magic was only limited by the person's own mind. That was why Silent Magic was so rare. Not many believed Silent Magic even possible, but when they do see people do it, they think that the person is somehow special and only a rare few has the possibility of doing it.  
  
There were pros and cons with Silent Magic. Silent Magic would definitely help with the victim not knowing what spells were cast and that the user wouldn't have to exhaust him-self wasting breath on spells. The con was that, those rare that succeeded in Silent Magic didn't cast spells as powerful as normal, albeit there were some of the older, more knowledgeable people who knew of the concepts behind magic, like Dumbledore and Voldemort. It wasn't that Silent Magic limited the magic, but the person limited themselves.  
  
Emotions were very important in magic and when the person used Vocal Magic they expressed their emotions behind the spell. However when a person used Silent Magic, they seemed to have their emotions TOO controlled or not use it behind their spells at all. I wasn't that hard to imagine, rarely when people think to themselves will they hear their own thoughts speaking with anger or anything, usually it's more of drowning like Binns. Yet emotions behind spells were obvious. Patronus's only worked with extreme happy thoughts, and Harry's spells came out much more powerful when he was pissed off.  
  
After the user accomplished that, the user was to go onto not using his wand and trying out loud magic. For Wand-less Magic, the user must imagine that user was the wand himself. The user must realize that magic flowed through the person's blood and that the user controlled it. Then they must feel the magic within themselves and bring it out through an exit of there choosing. That is because when carrying a wand the wand acts as a flush point for the magic. It is also straight and thin to help direct the magic that exerts from the body and shoot it out in a more space confined level.  
  
The person must first get a hang of "touching" there magic. After they can do it in a second thought they person must then direct the magic that they were touching out. It could be from anywhere: hand, feet, eyes. At first, the author said, the user was to only get used to bring the magic out without casting spells. Usually magic that didn't have spells behind it took the form of physical force. So when the magic is exerted from the body the user will probably destroy something. After the user is well used to exerting the magic, the user must then have an incantation, or a purpose behind the magic.  
  
After actually controlling the unstable and rather abrupt magic, the next step was to so wandless magic with Silent Magic. The concept was simple enough. Do what the user did before with wand this time just without..  
  
Harry was barely getting the concept of wandless magic. He already got the hang of Silent Magic and he even got his spells to have the same strength as normal. He couldn't cast really complex spells like the Patronus, but he got the spells such as stunners. Not only was he learning more about magic, but his knowledge of spells was growing also.  
  
He read many of the books that held information on many advanced spells. Harry was also reading his Dark Arts book. As much as he was impressed with his own progress he wasn't going fast enough. He had only two more weeks before he returned to Hogwarts and he didn't think that he could train completely unnoticed. Sure he could go into his trunk but that would become suspicious.  
  
Harry growled in annoyance. He started casting spells with his Holly wand in his left arm. The spells were weaker then his right obviously, but he was improving. He could even cast the advanced stunner that would knock out a person for an hour unless someone either equally or more powerful could undo it. He started casting spells with his Elder wand. He enjoyed the feeling of complete control the wand gave him. He always felt the cold chill from the wand. He never noticed it from his Holly wand but it must have been because he was so used to it.  
  
Now that he thought of it Harry always felt calmer and more secure when he gripped his Holly wand. Harry always thought it must have been the fact that he wasn't defenseless anymore, but maybe that wasn't the real reason. It didn't matter, he also tried the Amber wand but it wasn't great for many of the charms and curses. But it was still decent, good enough to fire off a stunner and shields.  
  
Harry then tried to use both of his wands to fire curses faster. He worked rather well, but the only limitation was the fact that he couldn't think of two different spells or the same spell at intervals of each other. He could shoot spells out of both his wands but the fact remained that the output seemed the same. Each beam of light was considerably more dim then his original spell. It didn't provide any advantage other then he wouldn't have to keep flicking his wand back and forth between multiple opponents.  
  
Harry also had been practicing his aiming. It wasn't bad, considering that he never really practiced it, it was rather good. However as he fired repetitive curses it got sloppy and it anything but his target. There was also the annoyance that he couldn't really see the effects of his spells. He knew that if it came out of his wand that it has some sort of the spells purpose behind it. But for all Harry knew some of his more vicious curses could have just tickled his opponents.  
  
Harry really hated the lack freedom at the muggles. He really wished he was at Hogwarts, even though every year he went there seemed to be some sort of twisted fairy tale. He sighed and read through another book that held information on spells.  
  
He had already finished another book that he brought from Potter's vault. He didn't know how he was taking in so much information and retaining the knowledge but he wasn't complaining. Maybe because Harry actually had a motivation to learn he does. Maybe he had the smarts all along just never tried. Still that didn't mean anything. He was picking up spells in matter of minutes, even when he tried incredibly hard to learn the Accio Spell it took the better part of a whole day.  
  
Harry was continuing to study and cast spells when the there was a knock on the figurative door of the trunk. Harry put his books down and walked back up the stairs and opened the trunk. Harry walked out half-expecting his uncle or something but was surprised to find Hedwig flying in front of him acting annoyed.  
  
Harry laughed at how smart his owl was and put out his hand for Hedwig. She landed on it and handed him mail. That was rather strange, no one had contacted him for the whole summer via owl and he sent his last reply to the 3 day message a day ago. He didn't know if it could have been a trap, but the fact that Hedwig brought it made him feel better.  
  
She was too smart to allow someone with ill intentions to send Harry mail. He opened the letter to find a short letter.  
  
  
  
Grab your all your stuff and make sure you have everything, by 2000. Hold the letter. Don't have your wand up your arse boy or else... M.E.M.  
  
  
  
Harry knew that it had to be Moody, the comment and the initials were a dead giveaway. 1400 was also a muggle expression and no death eater would know it. Supposedly used in the military and that meant he had... 10 minutes?  
  
'Hold the letter' must mean a portkey set on timer. Harry opened his trunk and told Hegwig to fly around until she knew where he was. He didn't know how but she seemed to always find him. Harry saw Hedwig leave and placed the cage into his second compartment. The place was more cluttered then before because he emptied everything out of his old trunk, trashing his past clothing, and placed them into the first compartment.  
  
He took out the robe Sirius gave him and put it on. He already keyed the robe to him in the past week and set the color as black for now. Harry also keyed his daggers that were still in sheath, and he was attaching the daggers to his belt on either sides of his body. He found out that the daggers had a magical attachment charm like his wand holster. Speaking of wand holster, he attached his Holly to his right wrist and decided to have the Elder on his left. He put the Amber on his right leg and took off his running shoes.  
  
He put on his dragon hide boots, which seemed to cover the sight of the holster rather well. It still gave him enough grabbing space to draw the wand quickly, but not blatantly stating that he had a back up wand. He checked to see if he had everything. He had his Griffin Earring where he found a charm to pierce his left ear, Grim Ring, Dragon Necklace, Dragon Robe, threw wand holster with three wands, watch that he still needed to find a set place to make a portkey to, and his trunk. He changed his trunk to another ring and placed it on his left index finger. Harry then held the portkey waiting for him to be transported to god-knows-where.  
  
Harry suspected it might be Grimmaulds Place, but with Moody's paranoia he could go to Siberia. He looked to his watch and saw that he had a...  
  
'Guess the watch is a second to slow.' Harry thought as he was portkeyed from his home. He landed rather abruptly but didn't fall. Wherever the hell he was it was pretty dark and he couldn't see much. Then it happened... The sight from his right eye seemed to lighten up. It had a greenish tint on everything, almost the pictures of what the muggles called night vision. He guessed this was an extra present from Mrs. Zabani.  
  
'Could have given me a warning.' Harry thought.  
  
'Oh but she did, don't you remember, she said that you'll "never" go blind again.' His inner voice said.  
  
Harry focused on his surroundings and wasn't very pleased with what he saw. He was surrounded by three hooded people covered in black robes pointing wand at where his head would be. He didn't have time to look through the cloak because he immediately went for his wand. A wand from one person poked his head as his hand twitch. Apparently Harry was very predictable to whoever just poked his head.  
  
The hooded figure pulled off his hood to that it was Moody. Harry didn't know if this was the real Moody or the another fake one. Moody took the iniative and asked, "Which compartment was I locked up in, 4th year?"  
  
"7th." Harry said, and then asked, "What do I always call you that gets you so agitated?"  
  
"Professor." Moody said.  
  
The three with the wands lowered it. Harry vaguely noted that Moody's was still pointing at Harry, namely at his crotch.  
  
The other two took off their hoods to reveal Moony and Tonks.  
  
Moony asked, "Where's your stuff? You didn't leave it did you?"  
  
"Don't worry Moony, I have it. So how are we going to get to wherever we're supposed to go?" Harry asked.  
  
"Broom." Tonks answered.  
  
"I don't have my broom." Harry said. He rather thought the Order should know so why would they go by broomstick?  
  
"Here's your broomstick Potter." Moody said throwing Harry his Firebolt that he seemed to have taken out from his robes.  
  
"Thanks." Harry and company flew off after Moody cast a illusionment charm like he did last year, and they ended up doing the crazy flight pattern as before. This time it wasn't so bad to Harry. He guessed that the robes that Sirius got had an automatic warming potion.  
  
The group landed in front of the street full of houses, but this time Harry could see the house. They walked in carefully almost having there entrance spoilt by Tonks. Luckily Harry grabbed her around the waste to prevent her from making a ruckus.  
  
"Thanks Harry." Tonks whispered, ever so embarrassed at her klutz-ness.  
  
Harry just gave Tonks a small smile, which she assumed was because of the fear of waking the old hag. While that was partly true, Harry was more quite because he was depressed about being here. He knew that if anyone was looking they could tell from his face, so he pulled up the poker face that he'd been practicing alone with his Occulemency.  
  
Harry walked into the dining room remembering the first time he got there. The night where he met Sirius again... All the pent up emotions that Harry had been trying to ignore were coming back to him again. He sighed never noticing the worried looks two of his three other companions gave him. Even Moody looked oddly accepting of Harry's current disturbance.  
  
Harry set down on one of the chairs in the dining table and looked to his travel weary companions.  
  
"So what's going to happen now?" Harry asked.  
  
"Today or night for that matter you can rest. No one else is here but the occasional order members."  
  
"Why isn't the Weasleys here like they were last year?"  
  
"Last year they were more vulnerable the return of the Dark Lord was sudden, and everyone was in a rush to organize. The Weasleys and many of the other old members were thought to be one of the highest targets, the Weasleys more so because of their connections to you oh also that muggle girl Granger. It was a mess so we had to improvise. But this year we're more prepared, we had a full year of relatively peaceful time to set up defenses contact for help and what not. So by now the Weasleys have their house protected and there will be no need to bring them here. Besides we're here to train you in secret not let everyone know about your secret training."  
  
"What do you mean train me? Train me like you did last year? What the fuck is so important for you to waste your VALUEBLE time on a child this year?" Harry asked.  
  
"Well in case you didn't know laddie, I had already been wasting my time with you last year. I was one of your summer watchers, stinking lot that did." Moody said.  
  
"Fine, so what'll I learn from you all anyways. I can guess Moody and Moony but why Tonks?" Harry asked.  
  
"Oy!" Tonks said looking annoyed. "I'll happen to let you know just because you got me in one fight at Gringotts doesn't mean you're better then me or anything!"  
  
"He got you in a fight?" Moody's normal eye looking at Tonks, who blushed, and his blue eyes looking at Harry.  
  
Harry snorted. "It was hardly a fight, but what I was asking was, what can I learn from a relatively new Auror that I can't learn from the person considered the best and more paranoid Auror in the First Rise?"  
  
"Well I'm here to help also, not many of your fights will be one-on-one, and so I'll be there to simulate a two-on-one, with Remus joining even for some three-on-one fights. There would be others more qualified then me to help, but I'm the most expendable out of the order. Also Moody isn't really with a job right now, nor is Remus that's why there going to be helping right now. They have the most leisure time." Tonks said, with Remus and Moody looking slightly uncomfortable with their lack of a formal occupation being blatantly stated.  
  
"Well laddie, just to help clear things up, I'll be teaching you fighting technic. All sorts of them actually, from a formal, dirty, one-on-one, 10- on-one, and a hopeless situation." Harry snorted at how Moody labeled a 10- on-one and hopeless as a different category. "I'll also be teaching you many of the spells used by both the Aurors and Death Eaters in the First Rise.  
  
Lupin will teach you more about Dark creatures. Need to know more then the load of dung you learn at your school to survive. Tonks will... help me sometimes, maybe the Aurors came up with some new spells to help them that I don't know." Moody snorted at this thinking it highly unlikely.  
  
"Occasionally we will have duel, but you'll never know what type you going into. Lupin and Tonks will always be there and might step in anytime, sometimes others will join also. Now go rest we'll start tomorrow."  
  
  
  
It seemed Moody's meaning of the word "occasionally" was rather off from the dictionary's term of the word as Harry was learning from dueling everyday, twice a day, for the last past week from being at Grimmauld's place. There was a week to go for school and it seemed as if Moody was picking up the pace. The first day Harry only had one duel, but two almost every other days. His schedule went from waking up, breakfast, dueling, lunch, dueling, learning from Moody and occasionally Tonks, and learning from Remus. Whatever free time Harry had, he spent it studying in his trunk.  
  
At the moment as Harry stepped into the "torture" room as Harry called it, it would be his second time dueling right after having lunch. Tonks wasn't here to today seeing as she had to keep up doing her work. Today it seemed as if Kingsley was taking her place. Remus was also there, and in the middle of the room already waiting was Moody.  
  
"Aye lad, you've improve greatly from when you first came in here. Now you might actually stand a chance at not having you buttocks blown off if you face those scums again." Moody said. "But you only have a week till school, and I am not sure you're ready to finish training in a week at this pace. So we will rush it even more. You will have a duel with three of us every time, and we won't hold back." Here Moody looked at the other two and they both nodded. Remus albeit a little hesitantly.  
  
Harry stepped in front of Moody. The standard rules apllied where Harry couldn't attack his other "enemies" until they stepped onto the mat that was set up. It was supposed to make Harry more wary of constant attack without warning.  
  
Harry and Moody didn't bow, seeing as how Moody explained it was no duel. He said it was a practice for a fight for Harry's life. Harry stepped a little off to his right waiting for the fight to start. Harry was never allowed to make the first move, he had to wait for the first attack, as Moody explained that in most situations the Death Eater would be the one attacking Harry first.  
  
With incredible speed for such an old and haggard looking man, Moody sent a spell to Harry. He didn't say anything, and the first time Harry was so surprised at Moody's easy perfection with Silent Casting that he got himself hit. This time Harry was prepared and dodged.  
  
The first thing he learned from Moody in his daily tactic's study, was to dodge first and block second. It wasn't such a problem for Harry whose instincts were still somewhat muggle and it became a habit for him to do it.  
  
Moody explained that Harry might often lose his wand and if Harry got the instinct of jumping aside first, Harry wouldn't be as fazed as if he didn't have a wand to block the incoming spell. Moody also explained that shielding took much more energy then dodging and often times spell that were sent in fights were powerful enough to break most shields that the user could quickly cast.  
  
Moody had already expected Harry to dodge and sent a spell to Harry's right. It was supposedly a wizard and witches habit to dodge to the right, if they were right handed because it helped the person keep their eyes on their opponent. This was because most one-on-one fighting had the person standing sideways from the opponent in order to lesson the target's target area.  
  
Harry knew that it was too late to dodge the second spell so he opted to shield it. A hazy shield managed to appear. It broke but was able to deflect the spell somewhat off target. Harry's robes caught fire and he cursed. Harry threw off the robe while trying to dodge Moody's spells.  
  
Harry had chosen to not wear the robes Sirius got him because he wanted to train under normal conditions because he would have an edge in real fighting, but if he chose to train with it, it would be more of a crutch. Harry still wore a robe, knowing that he needed to get the real feel of it in a duel to get used to it. From what Moody said, many of the incoming Aurors back then didn't learn that lesson and ended up getting restrained by their robes or tripping over them in a real fight. Not many got to have a chance to learn from their mistakes either.  
  
Harry had also taken off his necklace, earring, and rings. Harry didn't want any unlikely chance for a stray spell to harm the earing and rings, while for the necklace was because Harry didn't want to rely on it. Harry had his extra wands knowing that he would get used to using it in a real fight, rather then using it in desperation. For the most part Harry saved his second wand until a second person came in.  
  
Harry could "feel" a spell coming from behind him. Harry didn't know how it happened, but it seemed that Harry's constant paranoia at the fighting room helped develop a sixth sense, or an extra high sensitivity to incoming magic. Harry shot a rather vicious cutting curse at Moody, while at the same time ducking and point his left hand that had his now drawn wand shooting a blasting curse at the incoming fighter.  
  
Harry did it all in one smooth motion suprising the new dueler who was Kingsley. It was Kingsley first time dueling Harry, and Harry guessed he was underestimated. Harry quickly follow the half spin with a full spin shooting a elemental lighting spell at Kingsley and pointing his left wand at Moody.  
  
It seemed that Moody dodged the curse and was already well on his was to sending a curse back at Harry. Harry shot the lighting spell at Moody, while still holding the lighting spell aimed at Kingsley. Harry could see the electricity, which was a blinding white, dimish it's potency as it turned moldy yellow.  
  
The spell had hit Kingsley by now, who never expected such an advanced elemental curse from Harry, was shouting in pain. It might have also been because of the fact that Golden-Boy Potter had used Dark Arts. Moody however was ready, and he conjured a stone wall in front of the electricity.  
  
That was the main weakness with the spell, while any other spell would have damaged the conjured wall, which even his stunner would have broken due to it's haste at being conjured, his lightning held all the physical properties of electricity so it didn't damage the wall at all, it was just absorded by the wall. There was also the beauty at how the element spells were also amplified by other physical properties such as water and that magical shields didn't block it. Harry didn't bother keeping the spell up at Moody and released it.  
  
Harry, while concentrating hard at keeping the curse at Kingsley up, focused incredibly hard at sending a spike of pure magic at Moody. In all consideration the spell was basically a blasting curse but more... tempermental. The magic wasn't shot in a focused beam, but rather as a wave of energy. It quickly crumbled the wall Moody sent up but he found that Moody wasn't there.  
  
Harry cursed while jumping aside from a curse from Remus. Harry let go of his spell on Kingsley who twitched a little before slumping on the floor after being it with the spell for 2-3 seconds. Harry figured that Moody had gone under the illusion spell and moved to another location when Harry was too focused on keeping up two different types of magic at the same time.  
  
Although the pure magic, wasn't really a spell, it still required concentration to send a second, different form of magic while electrocuting Kingsley. Harry shot a blinding spell around himself and that bought him a second's worth of time. Harry spun like a ballerina while shoot water out of both his wand. He heard a splash relatively close to him and distinctly before the noise of water hitting the floor. It was behind him and Harry sent a stunner absent mindedly at Remus who dodged.  
  
The blinding spell wasn't long lasting but gave time to the user. Also the fact only closing the eye lids were a defense to it, and considering that any flash of the light will blind anyone seeing it but the user, even if for a mili second, it was dead useful.  
  
Harry's water charm was also very thoughtful. He read the idea from a book that discussed the pros and cons of many different types of magic, illusions and elementals being one of them. Illusions were only to trick the light, which had no physical form, and elemental magic was under physical magic and perfect for dispelling or rendering the illusion less then useful.  
  
He put it to good use as Moody was dripping wet even under the illusion charm. It was a rather odd sight but Harry pressed his advantage as he shot the lightning spell once again, both at Moody and Moony. Moody didn't react in time still soaked from the water, clearly not expecting such a thing from Harry, which Harry found amusing considering Moody's "CONSTANT VIGILANTY" motto. Moony as he expected was able to dodge, but Harry dragged the lighting towards him.  
  
This was also one of the great things about continious physical magic. It was a straight beam good for one shot. Harry could hold it and direct it at his blessing. Moody got hit with the lightning charm, Harry now downed all three of his opponent. Harry was most wrong as he got hit with an arm twisting charm.  
  
Harry's curses fell under the pain of having his right arm twisted and having bone splintering out. Obviously his attacker, who was Kingsley getting back up from being electrocuted, put a little too much power into the charm. It was supposed to make his arm twist painfully and make in lose focus, not usually breaking his arm like a twig.  
  
It was Harry's own fault for underestimating Kingsley, well Harry never underestimated him, but he should have been more wary of the downed Auror. The Auror was obviously tough, getting back up from having his body fried under Harry's Lightning Spell for three second and getting up in less than 5 seconds.  
  
Harry still had his left arm fully functional and he decided not to waste what valuable time was left. The others could attack Harry anytime and a three-on-one with a broken arm was never a good thing.  
  
Harry started firing curses drastically more advanced then even graduates of the Auror Academies, but this time Kingsley wasn't underestimating Harry. He traded blow for blow with Harry sending spell Harry only read about.  
  
By now the other two were fully conscious and the three of them held Harry down with so many barrages of spells that Harry could only manage a defensive. Harry was soon knocked out in the quick fashion all Harry's duels were.  
  
Harry woke up and looked around; he noticed he was in a bed situated in the middle of a small room. He then noticed that his right arm was fixed. Harry then saw his two instructors, without Kingsley, looking at Harry with indifferent eyes. Like always, after the duel came the evaluation from the instructors.  
  
While Remus gave congratulations on his performance, Moody just criticized him. Although Moody did grudgingly admit that the trick with the light and water was nice.  
  
Harry got up from the bed he was in and walked outside the room with Moody to the lecture room. There Harry sat down on the floor as Moody taught him many details about the First War that was hard to find even in books.  
  
Moody acted frighteningly like his fake counterpart did. Moody walked around Harry, constantly pacing as if to distract Harry, with the same wary stance and Harry swore that Moody even mumbled the same things that the fake one did in class. It was scary to see how good the impostor was able to act out Moody; who knew how many more could be impostors?  
  
It was a long while before Harry was finished with Moody's lesson; he even learned some rather nice offensive spells from Moody, which he mastered rather quickly. Moody then left and Harry waited for Remus to enter the room. The door opened and Harry looked up expecting Remus, yet he was disappointed.  
  
However the figure at the door was not Remus. Rather an old man looking like he was on the brink of death. Dumbledore's weariness only increased as he saw Harry's expression to his entrance.  
  
"Yes, headmaster?" Harry asked curtly. It was Harry's first time seeing him all summer, not that Harry wished to see more of Dumbledore.  
  
"Harry, I'm here to discuss about some rather interesting news I've been hearing about you. There is also the fact that I'm here to give you a, what's that muggle expression- "heads down?" no is it a "head's up?", well it doesn't matter, but I'm here to discuss with you what has been going on with the wizarding world."  
  
Harry just looked at Dumbledore, waiting for him to continue. Dumbledore conjured a chair with the wave of his hand. This time Harry focused intently on how Dumbledore did it. Harry saw his expression was one who was most at ease. Dumbledore didn't seem fazed in the slightest.  
  
Conjuring chairs was a rather difficult magic done even with a wand, the fact that Dumbledore could do it wandless alone was impressive. Dumbledore sat in front of Harry who was sitting on the floor. Harry didn't like the fact that he had to look up to the Headmaster; Harry felt almost as if he was small boy ready to be lectured for something wrong.  
  
"Well Harry, I have been hearing that you have been accomplishing some rather powerful spells. It isn't that you can do it Harry, I know that you are powerful, your patronus is no doubt proof of that, but that fact that you are learning such powerful magic rather quickly is the raise of some curious eyebrows. I'm also hearing that you are using some rather advanced dark arts." Here Dumbledore looked at Harry over his moon shaped glasses as if berating a child.  
  
Harry snorted, "There is no such thing as light-", Dumbledore looked pained at the comment remembering the man now monster who spoke the same beginning phrase years ago, ",-magic or dark magic." Dumbledore looked 10 years younger at the end of his sentence. "Magic is a tool, with only the wielder defining the art of the magic. Many of the 'DARK,'" Here Harry was sarcastic, ", magic are only considered dark because of the power needed behind the curse. Because of the fact that so few can do it, jealousy from the majority of the weak, average population and especially most of the leaders, who are usually near squibs, which I find rather amusing, outlaw the magic. I'm rather surprised that the Patronus Charm wasn't labeled a dark art."  
  
"You'd be surprised at how often the liability of the Charm has been called into question in this century. Yet it is because of the amazingly pure background and reason needed for the use of the charm that no one in their right mind would ban such a powerful magic that is used to chase known dark creatures away. The fact that to achieve the Charm the intent must be brought forth only by pure happiness and joy is also a bonus."  
  
"Right..." 'I truly didn't need to know that...' Harry thought, "-well, about my ability to learn spells so easily, I truly don't know how I can. Most of the spells I read, I memorize the concept in a matter of minutes and cast it in just the same amount of time. It seems almost as if I already knew the spell. There are still a few that I can't grasp and I struggle to learn it like I would under normal times at school." Harry said.  
  
Dumbledore looked as if expecting this. "I believe I know the reason Harry... Remember when I told you about how you received your rather interesting ability with snakes?" Harry nodded. "Well I believe that the gift of being a Parselmouth wasn't the only thing Voldemort transferred unto you that tragic night. It seems that he transferred his knowledge also... I do not know to what extent, though I believe everything till the point of hitting you with the curse has been locked away in your head."  
  
"But that makes no sense, I was Parselmouth even before Hogwarts, but when I came here I was struggling with just passing school." Harry reasoned.  
  
"Yes that is true, but did you know that being a Parselmouth requires only the most minuscule of magic? Even squibs can do it, considering that they either inherited the gene or like you somehow received the gift. Let me explain though, because of the tiny amount of magic necessary to use parselmouth even when you were a child, you were able to accomplish it.  
  
However it is my firm belief that the knowledge Tom accidentally implanted within your head is still there rather confined. I also believe that it requires a rather large amount of power to free the knowledge from its confines and release its knowledge to the rest of head. That is why you didn't experience any changes until now Harry."  
  
"What's so special about now?" Harry asked.  
  
"Oh dear me, I almost forget how little you know about the magical world..." Here Harry glared at Dumbledore who had the shame to look guilty.  
  
"How do you forget something that was the result of your own act?" Harry asked spitefully.  
  
"Harry, I truly thought that going to the muggles would be the best for you... I truly did..." Dumbledore sighed at Harry's disbelieving look.  
  
"Just get on with your explanation Dumbledore. I don't care for your excuses, we will have to tolerate each other till Tom's dead, but that doesn't mean I trust you for anything past that." Harry said.  
  
Dumbledore sighed, "Well Harry, every child born to our world knows..." Here Dumbledore's left eye twitched. "...Well around the time you reach puberty, your magic also goes through its puberty. That is why there is such a spike of power difference from the 3rd years and 5th years, even if you may not have noticed it. But you see Harry; it is around that time is where most people's puberty starts. However I am guessing that your puberty is rather late, though from the look of things, you're into the stages of puberty already." Dumbledore said looking at Harry.  
  
Harry understood what he meant about the puberty part. Harry noticed that he seemed to have grown a bit. What was left of his baby fat was gone, and he was about 5'9 now. Harry looked up at Dumbledore to continue explaining.  
  
"Well it is also wise to note for future reference, that before puberty hits, emotions are in their extremes. Even when a person is in puberty it is nothing like the year before their actual puberty starts. Well anyhow, as your magic goes through puberty, it spikes up at an enormous rate.  
  
Some researchers believe that puberty of the magic cause's puberty of the body, it is speculated that the magic of a person is under best condition if the body is in the best condition. That is why between the ages of 15 and 30 are considered the most powerful time of a wizard and witch. Even muggles you see, have very, very faint traces of magic that could affect their bodies to reach puberty. But after that, the person's magic diminishes, albeit really slowly, but it does not rise again naturally.  
  
Well now that you have reached puberty your magic is rising at a rather spectacular rate, and with the level you have now you can access past the block that seems to be surrounding the knowledge."  
  
"But then why don't I just know things, why must I read something for something I should already know?" Harry asked, hating the lack of knowledge and having to resort to asking Dumbledore.  
  
"Ah, I speculate that while your magic is high, it is not high enough to break the block that surrounds Tom's knowledge completely. I believe that as time goes by you will, but as of now you seem to have made a "hole" in the block. That is why you must review something to remember, you are in fact reaching through the hole for knowledge after you know what to look for. I believe that many sudden events will serve as "reminders" that will bring about the knowledge from within the walls un-expectantly." Dumbledore said looking thoughtful.  
  
"You said you think Voldemort transferred all his knowledge, does that mean his memory of everything he did in life before... that day?" Harry asked mortified.  
  
"Yes... I believe so... I am sorry that you will most likely watch his torturing and meetings of the past. At the time it seems that only facts are passed on, but I truly believe that after a while you will receive images foreign to you that are the life of Tom Riddle. I hope that by the time you do break the walls, you will be mature enough to be able to deal with it. Just know that whenever you need it, I'm here to help Harry." Dumbledore said making sure Harry looked into his eyes. "So it seems that Tom has transferred just about everything but his soul to you Harry..."  
  
"So... any other gifts or talents that he had 15 years ago, I would have?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yes... I do believe that when you have reach a certain magical power level that it will be so. But it might take a long time, many of the magic that Voldemort wielded had a great deal of power needed behind it."  
  
"So then why can't I use wandless magic?" Harry asked.  
  
"You are trying to master wandless magic? Well I dare say do you have any progress in it?"  
  
'Shit! Oh well he'll have found out sooner or later' Harry thought. "Yeah, I can summon things, it comes slowly but surely."  
  
"Ah... Did you know it takes many several years to get to that level of Wandless Magic? And it took you a week, two weeks tops?" Dumbledore said.  
  
"Yeah... crazy, so I don't really even have to study for school materials!" Harry said excitedly.  
  
Dumbledore laughed, happy that Harry still had some child in him. "You are ever the one with good priorities. However because of your rather... unfair advantage you have over others, I will make you have to make it up. I will require you to come to my office for personal training every... let's say Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. Many of the things that Voldemort knew, you will have to re-learn, and I think I may be able to help you in that."  
  
"Really?" Harry asked warily. While Harry admitted he needed the lessons, he saw the lessons as a way for Dumbledore to somehow manipulate him more then he already did.  
  
"Yes, I do say you must train... Harry I truly am sorry for last year... I only did what I saw was best..." Dumbledore said looking his age once again.  
  
"Save it professor, maybe you did what you thought was best, but it doesn't mean you did what was best. Or maybe it was, maybe a child's opinion and welfare isn't worth as much as the welfare of the wizarding worlds. After all, when has it ever mattered for the tool of the 'Light' to be seen past its physical condition? When has the wizarding world ever asked the child before labeling the boy as the "Boy-Who-Lived" and automatically expecting him to fight Voldemort. While at the same time at the slightest act of doubt, will unleash a hell storm of betrayal, slander, and backlash?"  
  
"Not everyone thought that Harry." Dumbledore said sadly.  
  
"That's the problem! I don't know who to hate for believing me at one minute, and sending me hate mails the next! I wish I had everyone's opinion at front and out in the open last year!"  
  
"And then what Harry? If they die you'll spit on their graves, or maybe go to their house and mocked them on how you were right?" Dumbledore asked proving a good point.  
  
"Maybe I should! Why should I even try to fight for the bastards! If I had a vision to might save them, maybe I should keep it in check!" Harry asked raving.  
  
Dumbledore sighed, "Harry... I know life isn't fair, and the trials life seems to put you through is harsh, but you should rethink your ways. You can't expect universal support or loyalty. Everyone is intitled to faults, and it is not the public's fault for wanting to go for the easy path and not believing in the truth."  
  
"But it is their fault! They're weak and they would rather face denial then the truth! They would slander those that stand for the truth just so that their fantasy world is intact!" Harry said.  
  
"Are you saying Harry, that you have never made a mistake? That you have never judged others?" Dumbledore asked looking at Harry piercingly.  
  
"I did but..." Harry faltered. "They're still bastards, the lot of them." Harry seethed.  
  
"Harry, I have also gone through what you have gone through... From my age and experience holding grudges will not lead you to a happy life. You should forgive and try to forget. If at best ignore the person." Dumbledore said.  
  
"You can't possibly mean that for everyone... What about Tom?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yes what about Tom? I admit I do have disappointment for such a fine student, but his past has been laid with grief and prejudice. His mother died and his father abandoned him. He lived in an orphanage that beat him and starved him. Hogwarts was his salvation, yet even his own house was tormenting him for his blood... I can't help but feel sorry for the boy that has become the monster, and I often wonder what could have been done to change what he is now." Dumbledore had a faraway look in his eyes.  
  
"Maybe you have lived long enough and been fortunate enough to come across such wisdom and passiveness, but I will never forgive that monster. Neither will I forgive his followers and give them mercy."  
  
Dumbledore seemed sad and regretful. "Well the second topic I'm bringing up won't please you either. There have been many updates in the wizarding world, some good, most bad. Azkaban has been liberated by Voldemort. All its prisoner are gone, with some dead, presumably they refused to serve Voldemort. The few guards situated there are dead, and the dementors are gone." Dumbledore finished.  
  
Harry didn't respond, it was expected.  
  
"Also, it seems that Minister Fudge is on the brink of being kicked out of office." Dumbledore said.  
  
Harry smiled no smirked.  
  
"While this is somewhat good news, we do not know who will be taking over for the minister, we as the Order are trying to put some of our own into the campaign, but there are high chances that Death Eaters or Death Eater sympathizers are running for the job also." Dumbledore said.  
  
"So, with our new found fame at being proved right, and being called, 'The Lone Voice In The Darkness' the public would eat up anything we say, and fully support who we support." Harry said confidently.  
  
"While public support is important, it isn't the only factor that is taken account when re-electing a Minister. Of course with a vote a no-confidence, the rules a little different then normal, but the heads of the different sections of the ministry have a lot of influence non the less." Dumbledore said.  
  
"So you're afraid of them being bought..." Harry said.  
  
"That and threatened Harry." Dumbledore finished. "Well that's it for my coming here. I wish you to read this book..." Here Dumbledore gave Harry a rather thick book. "I believe that because you are now an emancipated adult, you should acknowledge a better understanding of the world you are living in. Oh the Weasley family says 'Hello.'" Dumbledore left.  
  
Harry took a look at the book and saw that it was titled, "British Ministry of Magic, The Functions and Laws of How the Government Works."  
  
'Great I'm going to have to learn politics...' Harry groaned. 


	3. Chapter 3

Harry Potter & the Tainting of the Light  
  
Chapter 3  
  
A/N: I don't own anything. I will be starting a date system now because of the fact that I can't keep track of when the story is, and with a set calendar it would be much easier. I will use the calendar of 2004 for all the day-number relations such as July 22 being Friday.  
  
  
  
(September 1, Wednesday)  
  
A horn screeched, awaking Harry from his nap. He looked around and found himself in a compartment and remembered where he was. Harry was currently sitting in one of the last compartments in the Hogwarts Express. He looked at his watch and found that he had slept for an hour, having gotten to the station and to the train extra early.  
  
Harry's arrival to Platform 11 ¾ was completely the opposite of the routine with the Weasleys. With the Weasleys, everything was frantic and done at the last minute. However Moody, Moony, and Tonks were not the type to do things at the last minute. Well maybe Tonks, but Moody being a former Auror and being a complete paranoid psycho, and Moony a mature and responsible adult who had been a professor, made sure Harry was ready 3 hours before departure.  
  
Harry guessed that even now Moody and Moony along with a few other Order members were watching the train. Even Aurors were supposedly going to be stationed on the train to make sure the train was safe. At least that was according Tonks and Kingsley.  
  
It was amazing how much had changed in the last few days. Fudge got kicked out of his office after a vote of no confidence. Harry remembered the moment he found out about Fudge vividly.  
  
(Flashback)  
  
(August 28, Saturday)  
  
"Harry! You have got to see this!" Tonks almost screamed as she entered the kitchen in which Harry was cooking breakfast.  
  
Tonks ran up to Harry and stopped at the last moment tripping over her own feet. Harry held the pan with eggs in it on one hand, and caught her in the other. He set her back on her feet and patiently waited for Tonks to continue.  
  
"Look!" Tonks almost jumped as she handed Harry what looked like a newspaper. Harry unfolded the wrapped up newspaper and read the headline.  
  
  
  
b  
  
Rotten Fudge Thrown Out! By Penelope Clearwater  
  
Officially at 7:23 of August 28 XXXX, Ex-Minister Cornelius Fudge has been removed from his office after the Heads of the Ministry stepped into his office and unanimously voted a state of "No Confidence" in the Minister. Many officials say that the struggles that former Minister Fudge put up were monumental and that it took 3 Aurors to detain and escort him out.  
  
Currently not only has the Ex-Minister lost his office, but he finds himself in the Ministry Holding Cell, being held for suspicion in the crimes of: enforcing media screening, over abusing his power, accepting bribes, blackmailing, and shielding the public with the knowledge of You- Know-Who's return.  
  
It is obvious now that Fudge slandered Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived and Albus Percival Dumbledore, defeater of the Dark Wizard Grindewald and owner of numerous awards and titles amongst the wizarding world, after their valiant and ever resolute attempts to voice the truth about You-Know-Who's return. It was also brought up that Headmaster Dumbledore brought up the criteria about the instability of Azkaban to the former minister, who ignored the words of wisdom.  
  
It is sad that because of the incompetence of the Ex-Minister that Azkaban was broken into a several days earlier, with the former Death Eaters liberated and Dementors working for You-Know-Who.  
  
Also the Ex-Minister's former Under Secretary Dolores Umbridge, who also finds herself kicked out of office, is currently also in a holding cell for the suspicion of: using illegal blood quills on students, setting dementors on a minor, attempted casting of one of the unforgivable curses, allowing torture methods on students, and screening free speech of students and teachers within the Hogwarts institute.  
  
Ms. Umbridge is suspected of using blood quills on numerous students at Hogwarts when she was residing as the DADA teacher first and then the Headmistriss for a whole year. Amongst them was Harry Potter for speaking out about You-Know-Who. Apparently Ms. Umbridge has also admitted to have set dementors on Harry Potter during his summer before his 5th year at Hogwarts, in attempts to have him expelled.  
  
Last to be kicked out of office and being is being currently held in a holding cell until questioning is the Ex-Minister's former Secretary Percival Weasley. He is being brought up on charges for aiding screening the media, spreading lies and blantant propaganda to misinform the public, and setting up biased trials against numerous people.  
  
There are many others within the Ministry that is considered to be corrupted by Fudge. Thankfully Madam Amelia Bones, who is currently acting as Temporary Minister, assures the readers that a through investigation will go into every Ministry worker.  
  
/b  
  
  
  
Harry couldn't believe that Fudge finally got kicked out of office, but also the irony of the fact that the person writing the article was Percy's ex. Kingsley also jumped for joy at having the incompetent bastard kicked out. Apparently the Minister personally got on his back for his failed attempts at catching Sirius Black.  
  
(End of Flashback)  
  
Harry smiled remembering when he last met Kingsley. The last time Harry saw him, which was two days ago, Kingsley was still miffed and sulking about how Harry downed him so easily during the duel a week ago. He seemed to have gotten to talking to Harry again, but he still seemed to be giving Harry mock glares every time Tonks brought up the duel.  
  
Tonks just laughed and told Harry good job. Supposedly the Auror was getting a bit arrogant over the last year, having obtained the rank as one of the best duelers amongst the Aurors.  
  
Moody just gave Harry a small smirk, while Moony gave a cheerful laugh. Harry sighed; he was going to miss the three, even the pissed off Kingsley. Training with them gave Harry a feeling of confidence, knowing that he was doing something to prepare. Now Harry would have to worry about school, Quidditch, and god knows what else.  
  
As the train started to move, Harry had to admit he longed for a normal life, but he couldn't just ignore the problem at hand to have it. He couldn't just turn a blind eye at what was going on, not when he knew he was the center of it all.  
  
Harry sighed, if he lived through this, he promised that he would be the most immature and childish person anyone met. Harry laughed wondering if that was why Dumbledore was as he currently was.  
  
That was another thing, Dumbledore. The man that manipulated his life, yet even now seemed to be doing what he thought was best. Harry had to admit, he didn't hate the man. He was wary of him, he was mad at him, but Harry couldn't hate him for doing what he did.  
  
Harry came to understand that no matter how mature and wise Dumbledore seemed, he was still human. He wasn't god, he couldn't know everything that happened in Harry's life, and it was very clear that he made mistakes life any other human.  
  
Harry took off his trunk-ring and enlarged it. He opened the compartment to one with all the books in it and accio-ed a book to him. After all it wouldn't do well for anyone to see him walking into his trunk if they were to walk in at that very moment.  
  
Harry caught the book that sailed through the air towards him. He looked at the title and smiled at how informative his personal library was. Harry strongly believed that only 10 copies of the book he was currently holding were even in existence.  
  
Harry knew that Hermione would scream in anger and jealousy at the book that he was reading. Even the title was written in golden weavings. Harry laid down on the seat and traced his fingers over the title.  
  
"To Increase Proficiency in Elemental Magic"  
  
The book was incredibly interesting. It seemed that many of the elemental magic that Harry knew barely scratched the surface of what could be done. The book explained that there were levels of complexity of elemental magic. Ranging from 1 to 10, a basic incendio charm would be 1, a drought charm would be 2, and even Harry's lightning spell would be around 6. Harry at first couldn't believe that such advanced magic such as the lightning spell was only on the scale 6 out of the 10.  
  
However after he read deep into the rest of the elemental magic Harry could understand why his spell was only 5. Truth be told, Harry's lightning spell was one of the most powerful elemental spells in existence, however anything beyond the scale of 7 reached into the magic where no spells were cast.  
  
They reached into chants and rune magic type of magic casting. The highest elemental magic noted to day was an incident that required synchronized chanting with 10 people profound at advanced wind elemental magic. The 10 also required the use of highly advanced rune magic. Unfortunately chanting was an incredibly precise art.  
  
Chants were only used when the more then one magic user wanted to combine their magical power into a certain magic, and with the chanting of the same words they would be able to intertwine their magic together to fuse the potency of their magic.  
  
The runes were also used to stabilize the magic and to help the magic be more "willing" to bond with the other elemental's magic. However stability goes only so far and the higher the power behind the magic the less stability the runes can provide.  
  
That was why when one elemental miss pronounced one syllable of the chant the magic became unstable and the elemental magic they were trying to perform backfired unto the casters.  
  
Sad to say no one survived the hurricane that engulfed the 10 elementals and the towns surrounding them. Harry guessed that incident was one of the main reason advanced elemental magic was untaught nowadays.  
  
Harry didn't want to do elemental magic such as those, but was merely satisfied learning advanced elementals spells similar to the lightning spells. Harry even learned the name of the spell that took down 2 of his 3 trainers. Needless to say "Zeus' Wraith" became one of Harry's more favored spells.  
  
Then Harry's learned the "Hell's Inferno." The spell shot a tidal wave of fire that seemed to take a somewhat liquid appearance. It looked like to anyone on the receiving end a huge wave of molten lava coming at them. The spell was incredibly lethal and gave 3rd degree burns immediately on contact, and just about anyone under the spell for 2 seconds would be roasted alive. At least that was what the book said as Harry never got to try his spell on anyone. The spell was level 6 according to the book.  
  
Then there was the spell "Breeze's Fickle" it sounded harmless yet was of level 7 on the scale. The spell was highly "Reactive" and the name was appropriate. Fickle meaning unexpected and the spell to anyone that didn't focus enough could have the spell turn on them or not be cast at all. The spell actually shot numerous "blades" of wind at opponents.  
  
And being that the "blades" were formed of solidified air it was incredibly sharp and other then something of great density and thickness the "blades" would cut through the defenses made by the victim. Needless to say the victim would find themselves less whole if they could not evade or block the spell.  
  
There was also the fact that the number of "blades" and its accuracy was never exactly certain. Although chances are the caster would always hit the victim, there was no telling who else the caster would hit. Anyone within the victim's proximity was liable of being chopped up by the spell also.  
  
The only reassurance was the spell ended after shooting 10 meters. Truth be told, the spell was too unpredictable for Harry's taste. Only in a fight to the death situation would Harry ever even think about using the spell. Even now Harry was only able to use the spell somewhat under control with his Amber Wand that was proficient at mainly elemental magic. His other wands shot the blades at everything but the target and himself.  
  
The beauty of elemental spells was the fact that they were hard to block. While any other spell took the form of manipulated magic until hitting the opponent then the magic activated to cause some sort of physical change, the elemental magic immediately took a physical change upon leaving the wand  
  
There were shields against physical magic, but they were usually unstable and took a lot of concentration to conjure. The shields however were complex and mostly a waste of time to use in a duel. There were really strong ones that took just about any physical attack short of a raging hippogriff, but those took a high level of concentration and the wand movement and spell uttering was more complex then what would be good in a duel.  
  
After all shields were usually needed to quickly defend the victim against attacks, but doing a 3 second wand movement wouldn't be productive in an active duel.  
  
Then there were quicker casted shields but they were so weak that having a person lean on it could break it. It was more efficient to just conjure things to block the attacks as they are quicker and the conjured objects could take a lot more blow before being destroyed. However they usually depended on the caster's proficiency at conjuring.  
  
But the best thing that came out of reading the book was Harry's developing interest in runes. At first Harry thought they were just ancient writings or whatever in his 3rd year, but runes in fact were like "written" magic. It could be written in the air, on stone, staffs.  
  
The possibilities were endless, and Harry vowed to start learning more about Rune Magic as soon as he can. Harry even found a book on it, but waited until after he was done with the Elemental book before starting to read it.  
  
The door to his compartment opened and Harry wandlessly cast an illusion charm on the cover of his book. Now no one would question Harry reading the "DADA" curriculum book in the compartment.  
  
Harry looked over his book to see Blaize Zabani at the entrance. She looked really unhappy at finding the Golden Boy of Gryffindor sitting in the compartment.  
  
"Get out Potter, this is my compartment." Blaize said.  
  
Harry just lazily raised his eye-brow. "There is more then enough room for you Zabani, although it may be hard for you to fit your arrogance through the doorway."  
  
"Arrogance! Look who's talking Mr. Boy-Who-Lived and has a broomstick up his arse!"  
  
Harry just gave Blaise a withering look and said, "I'm not the one that believes that they own a public compartment. Now look Zabani, I'm not leaving so either close the door on your way out, or sit down and shut up."  
  
Zabani huffed and entered the compartment. She sat down on the seat opposite of Harry and opened her trunk pulling out a book. Harry planned to pay the temper mental Slytherin no mind for the rest of the trip as he kept reading his book.  
  
The door to the compartment opened again some time later. Harry didn't put his book down and instead preferred to see through the book for who was at the door. Harry found that it was the two youngest Weasley and Hermione. Harry still didn't put his book down slightly miffed at how he was ignored all summer.  
  
"Well there's Zabani and no Harry. See Hermione, he isn't here, I bet he's going to Hogwarts in style with guards and all." Harry easily heard jealousy as Ron closed the door.  
  
"Trouble in paradise?" Harry could feel Zabani's smirk.  
  
Harry laughed bitterly replying with a, "You have no idea."  
  
"So the Golden Trio is breaking apart now?" Blaise asked.  
  
"Zabani, if you weren't so daft you would know that it has been falling apart since the 4th year." Harry replied exasperated.  
  
The Slytherin sneered at Harry, who finally lowered his book down and turned his head to face her. "Not everyone wants to know everything about you Potter."  
  
Harry merely smirked at the Slytherin annoying her to no ends.  
  
"What are you smirking at Potter!"  
  
"Nothing you would understand Zabani." Blaise merely huffed to express her annoyance and went back to reading, as did Harry.  
  
The silence of the compartment lasted for another hour until the door opened again. Harry was vaguely annoyed at how little privacy he was getting but held his emotions in. Harry had his book once again in front of his face and peered through it to see who was at the door.  
  
'Surprise, surprise.' Harry thought as he found Malfoy flanked by his usual two idiot trolls. Malfoy didn't even spare Harry a glance as he immediately faced Blaise.  
  
"So Zabani, still in your usual compartment I see. At least you aren't alone; I guess I was wrong about you being a loner, you filthy traitor." Malfoy sneered at Zabani.  
  
Harry rolled his eyes at how annoying and predictable Malfoy could be. However Malfoy did supply Harry with the useful information of how Blaise wasn't liked by Malfoy. Harry planned to store the information for now and find out more about this later.  
  
"Just because I don't kiss You-Know-Who's arse and plan to serve only myself, doesn't mean I'm a traitor." Blaise retorted to Malfoy.  
  
"You're a muggle-lover, your family is a disgrace to the Zabani name. They were well respected pure-bloods until your whore of a mother and that squib of a father took on the family name! They brought shame upon your ancestors!" Malfoy all but yelled.  
  
"At least my parents aren't sucking up to another wizard! They stand proud for their beliefs and bow to no-one!" Blaise yelled at Malfoy. "I can't say the same for your parents can you? I'm sure arse kissing You-Know-Who got your family a lot of respect in the wizarding world. I mean I can't believe that my family missed out on the chance of being on the run and being a common criminal!" Blaise said sarcastically.  
  
Malfoy drew his wands, with his two dimwitted friends following his example. Blaise had her wand drawn too. It seemed that a fight was inevitable, and Harry was not pleased to be in a small compartment, sure to be caught up in the duel's cross-spells.  
  
Harry drew his wand without drawing any attention to himself ready to defend himself if the need arouse. He also put the book under his robes intent on not letting it be damaged in the fight that was sure to come.  
  
Blaise, Malfoy, and Malfoy's troll-like friends were currently eying each other with extreme hate waiting for the other to start the duel. It was easily known to the four that the first one to cast a spell would be punished, while the others could say that the returning spells were in self- defense.  
  
Goyle was the first to crack as he sent a spell at Blaise. She quickly ducked the spell, sending a pink one back to the attacker. Goyle wasn't quick enough and developed boils all over his body. Goyle thrashed in the pain of the boils, bumping into Crabbe.  
  
Crabbe swayed almost losing his balance, but quickly regained it. He tried to send a spell to Blaise but Goyle, after having his boils come into contact with Crabbe bring a fit of pain, reflexively thrashed again, this time hitting Malfoy.  
  
Unfortunately for Malfoy he lost balance being knocked into Crabbe's line of fire, and developed 2nd degree burns on the immediate area of contact. The spell wasn't lethal or anything, just creating a burn mark on the victim, along with the pain that came from burn marks.  
  
Blaise quickly used advantage of the stupidity of the three and fired two more spells at the three. Crabbe found himself turned partially into a pig, as Blaise's spell wasn't completely effective, and Malfoy was forcibly knocked back into his two friends. They hurdled through the compartment door and were knocked unconscious in the hallway.  
  
To Harry the duel wasn't even a duel. It was a complete and utter massacre on Malfoys part and it took all Harry had to not laugh at Malfoy's current condition. Harry didn't even have to do anything to defend himself from a stray spell because Blaise was so effective in her dueling.  
  
Harry had to admit, he was somewhat amazed at the Blaises dueling skills, not that Harry would say that to her. Blaise on her part was all smiles, she was incredibly happy at kicking the three idiots' arses in a duel. However she was angry at the fact that she had to do it all alone.  
  
"Thanks for your help Potter!" Blaise glared in Harry's direction.  
  
"Wasn't my fight, and besides are you saying that you wanted my assistance?" Harry raised his eyebrows slowly in mock confusion.  
  
"No! I would never want your help-"  
  
"Ok then, problem solved." Harry interrupted.  
  
"...So much for your Gryffindor bravery." Blaise grumbled as she took a seat.  
  
"Bravery had nothing to do with it Zabani, besides you're a big girl, figured you could handle yourself?" Harry asked.  
  
She didn't reply merely contending to read her discarded book.  
  
The train ride ended in relative silence after that, the only other interruption being an Auror that entered the room questioning the duel that took place earlier. Blaise explained the situation with Harry only giving vocal confirmation of her story.  
  
The only other event during the train ride was Blaise exiting to change into her robes, while Harry didn't have to as he was already in the robes that was the last gift from Sirius.  
  
  
  
Harry stepped into the Great Hall without much emotions showing. He wanted to sit with his best friends, but he remembered Ron's departing word from before. The last thing he needed right now was to get into a row with them in the Great Hall so Harry chose to sit with Neville.  
  
Harry struck a brief conversation with the somewhat plump Gryffindor. Neville told Harry that he got a new wand, and how his grandmother was extremely proud of how he fought against death eaters at the Ministry. Harry nodded slightly not truly wanting to talk, but not wanting to seem rude to the shy but brave Gryffindor that stuck by him for all his years at Hogwarts.  
  
The sorting passed by quickly as Harry didn't pay any attention to it, then like usual, Dumbledore stood to give his usual annual start of the year speech.  
  
"Students new and old, welcome for another year at Hogwarts. I wish to start this year off jolly; however I have another interruption for you before you may feast. It seems that this year instead of just the usual first years joining us, a large majority of transfer students have applied for Hogwarts. Now usually I would just quietly sort any transfer students into a house, but because of the rather large number, I would think it more productive if they are introduced to the school."  
  
Harry had truthfully been wondering why the sorting hat was still in the middle of the room. Again from the great halls entrance, students of various sizes walked through. This time they were lead by the minute charms professor.  
  
The sorting happened yet once again, distributing about a 100 students to their respective houses. Gryffindor itself received about 30 new kids. Dumbledore once again stood to bring attention to himself.  
  
"Now that, that is over, I do not like being the ones to inform you, however what I hate more then bad news, is bad news kept in secret."  
  
Harry tried to keep in a snort, he really did, but the outright lie of Dumbledore's statement was too much for Harry to keep the snort in. Unfortunately for Harry silence swept the Great Hall just before his snort, and it seemed to have echoes all around the room drawing stares from everyone to him.  
  
Harry just glared at the staring faces and looked back undisturbed to Dumbledore. As he looked back Harry noticed that Dumbledore looked sad and tired after Harry's outburst.  
  
"A war had started in the magical world, a war between ideals and prejudice, a war that will no doubt affect us all in some ways, if it hasn't already. Because of the recent events curfew will be strictly enforced, with the penalties being dire for /b caught out after curfew. Also the Forbidden Forest is of course forbidden. Hogsmeade trips will be short and few, I am sad to say." Here many children groaned.  
  
"There will also be Aurors situated at Hogwarts, pay them no mind and I strongly advise you to not bother them unless a dire situation arises that require their services. Anyone playing a prank on them or calling a false alarm will face expulsion." Dumbledore peered intently around the room.  
  
"However on happier note, Quidditch is still on and we are going to have a winter ball this year." Dumbledore paused for effect, or maybe because girls and boys loudly chattered, drowning his voice. The girls were obviously happy however the boys mostly weren't, Harry himself was indifferent to it all, as the childish event seemed non-important to him.  
  
"The Winter Ball shall take place December 24, a day before Christmas and on a Friday. Hogsmeade weekend will be allowed a two weeks in advance for any last minute shoppers. And the age limit this year for the ball will be 4th year and up." Again the noise rose, annoying Harry to no end.  
  
"Now let me introduce you to the new professors; I dare say we have quite a few of them this year. First let me present to you the DADA professors this year." Harry's ears perked at hearing the plural form of professor. "Returning from retirement is Remus Lupin, and Alastor Moody."  
  
Harry's eye budged as he saw the very two people that were his instructors walk up to the teacher's desk from the back room that Harry stepped into in his 4th year.  
  
"Professor Lupin shall teach 1st and 2nd year along with 5th to 7th years, while Professor Moody shall handle 3rd through 7th years. So the 5th to 7th shall have them both for their lessons."  
  
"Also we now have an extra elective the "Magical Dueling" shall be taught by former Tri-wizard participant Victor Krum-," Here a bulky man that was the Quidditch Star of Romania stepped out of the back room.  
  
",-and assisted by Professors Moody, Lupin, and Snape from time to time. Now the MD is an elective that can only be taken by 5th years and up, and this class will provide absolutely no help to your grades. It is merely for an experience sort of thing. You will report to the great hall for the lessons."  
  
"Also because of the rather abrupt increase in students, Mr. Krum will be Professor McGonagall's assistant in Transfiguration."  
  
"Another new elective is the "Healing Art" also held in the Great Hall, which will be taught by Madam Pomprey and assisted by Professor Firenze, who will introduce the advanced healing methods of the centaurs, and another former Tri-Wizard participant Fleur Delacour-," The stunning veela that came to Hogwarts in Harry's fourth year stepped into the room from the back room. Harry vaguely noticed that many of the boys within the room started drooling, Ron being one of the most obvious.  
  
",-she shall help introduce the healing arts that are native to France as she has already taken and passed the license to be a Novice-Healer. Now this course will also not affect your grading and only 4th years and up may take it. Ms. Delacour will also help the charms professor."  
  
"Now these subjects must be signed up for, but may be dropped at any time. These courses will not affect each other or any other of your subjects, and if you wish to not take it you will find an extra hour's worth of free time in your schedule. The MD shall take place every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 4pm, while the HA shall takes place at Tuesday and Thursday at 4pm also. You will find the application sheets in your respective common room."  
  
Harry could hear many people whispering that they would immediately sign up for HA, and Harry couldn't but help roll his eyes at how male half would be wasting the teacher's valuable time, applying only to spend time with the veela.  
  
Dumbledore then clapped his hands together making the food appear.  
  
  
  
Harry stepped into the common room following the regular mass and as he entered he saw the application sheets. The HA was already filled to the brim with signatures, and Harry wondered if applying for the lesson will be worth it or not. The knowledge gained from the subject would no doubt help Harry tremendously, but he wondered if he would even learn anything because of the horny boys.  
  
Harry sighed guessing he could just drop the lesson and signed his name for both subjects. Harry then headed up to his room and after seeing that no one was there, he enlarged his trunk. Harry put away his robe and his outer clothing and lay down on his bed. Harry closed the curtains to his bed, and after casting a security charm on the curtains to wake Harry if anyone opened the curtains, Harry went to sleep.  
  
(September 2. Thursday)  
  
Harry woke up at 5:30 and changed into his running clothes. Just because Harry went to Hogwarts didn't mean that he was going to stop his morning exercises. He ended up jogging for 40 minutes before heading in and stretching.  
  
He took a shower and after he changed into his normal clothing and putting on his robe, which he uttered the cleaning charm, taking off whatever filth got on it yesterday.  
  
Harry then went to the great hall where there were a few people there. Harry just took his seat and started eating. Harry never noticed it before, but he started eating a lot. A lot didn't cover it actually; Harry thought that no one would be able to compete with his eating habit now, with the exception of Crabbe, Goyle, and Ron.  
  
Soon the Great Hall started filling with more people and Ron and Hermione entered the Great Hall. They immediately went towards Harry and sat down with Hermione in between Harry and Ron. Ron seemed to be giving Harry the cold shoulder, not that Harry really expected anything less from him after hearing him on the train.  
  
"So where have you been Harry?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Here." Harry answered vaguely not getting what she was asking.  
  
"No, from what Ron said you weren't in your bed in the morning." Hermione emphasized by saying, "At 6 o'cloak in the morning."  
  
Harry rolled his eyes at Hermione's nosiness, but relented, "Exercising."  
  
"Oh doing what?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Running." Harry said getting a bit annoyed at what seemed like an interrogation coming from Hermione.  
  
"Oh." Was all Hermione said, she tried to start the seemingly dead conversation. "Did you sign up for the electives Harry?"  
  
"Yeah, but I think HA will be a waste of time." Harry said.  
  
Hermione seem eager at Harry responding with more then one word answers. "Why you got to admit learning healing magic will be extremely useful."  
  
"I'm not saying the subject is useless, I'm saying that the class will be a waste of time. Most of those joined only joined because of Fleur." Harry said.  
  
Hermione seemed to understand. "Yeah I agree."  
  
Ron didn't like the two way conversation that didn't include and spoke up also. "I think that lesson will be great."  
  
Harry rolled his eyes while Hermione said, "I know you would think that Ron."  
  
"Hey what is that supposed to mean?" Ron exclaimed to Hermione.  
  
Then they, like usual, bickered like an old married couple not that Harry gave a damn as it provided an excuse not to talk to the two for a while. Soon a 7th year prefect handed Harry and his friends their electives. Harry checked his list.  
  
  
  
b  
  
Harry Potter: 6th Year.  
  
Example:  
  
Day: Class (Other House) - Time  
  
Monday: N.E.W.T. prep D.A.D.A. (Gryffindor & Slytherin) 8:00am – 10:00am -Blank- N.E.W.T. prep Charms (Gryffindor & Ravenclaw) 1:00pm – 3:00pm M.D. (All) 4:00pm – 6:00pm  
  
Tuesday: -Blank- N.E.W.T. prep Potions (Gryffindor & Slytherin) 10:00am – 12:00pm N.E.W.T. prep C.o.M.C. (Gryffindor & Hufflepuff) 1:00pm – 3:00pm H.A. (All) 4:00pm – 6:00pm  
  
Wednesday: N.E.W.T. prep Transfiguration (Gryffindor & Ravenclaw) 8:00am – 10:00am N.E.W.T. prep Herbology (Gryffindor & Hufflepuff) 10:00am – 12:00pm N.E.W.T. prep D.A.D.A. (Gryffindor & Slytherin) 8:00am – 10:00am M.D. (All) 4:00pm – 6:00pm  
  
Thursday: -Blank- N.E.W.T. prep Charms (Gryffindor & Ravenclaw) 1:00pm – 3:00pm -Blank- H.A. (All) 4:00pm – 6:00pm  
  
Friday: N.E.W.T. prep Potions (Gryffindor & Slytherin) 10:00am – 12:00pm N.E.W.T. prep C.o.M.C. (Gryffindor & Hufflepuff) 1:00pm – 3:00pm N.E.W.T. prep Transfiguration (Gryffindor & Ravenclaw) 8:00am – 10:00am M.D. (All) 4:00pm – 6:00pm  
  
/b  
  
  
  
Harry looked at his watch and found it to be 30 minutes till Transfiguration started. Harry decided to leave now as he wanted to get away from his friends who started to bicker again. He left for the classroom without drawing attention from his bickering friends.  
  
Harry walked up to the Transfiguration room and entered the unlocked door. He saw Professor McGonagall's head look up from where she was reading a book. She seemed surprised to see him, and Harry couldn't blame her.  
  
"Something I may help you with Mr. Potter?" The professor asked curiously.  
  
"Sorry professor, had nothing better to do." Harry shrugged.  
  
Harry sat down in one of the front seats and sat down. Harry took out his Transfiguration book from his handbag and began reading it. Harry didn't have time to read it over the summer, considering that he paid more attention to slightly more powerful books.  
  
So the lessons in the subject were relatively new to Harry. However like most other things he had an easy time understanding the spells. Somewhere in Harry's head he felt like he was cheating for having such an unfair advantage.  
  
But he push the thought aside, with every advantage comes with disadvantage, and Harry knew that he would rather have his parents again then having Voldemort transport his knowledge to him that night. He had to risk being murdered by a disfigured freak to obtain such an edge.  
  
Harry was already through 3 chapters by the time Krum entered the classroom. They exchanged greetings and Harry talked with Krum about his life.  
  
"Hello Harry, nice to see you again." Krum said cheerfully.  
  
"Hello, Professor Krum." Harry grinned as he said the professor.  
  
"Just Victor, Harry, at least when were alone. Wouldn't want the students to think I'm treating you special just because you fly good and the fact that I know you from my 7th year." Victor grinned.  
  
"Okay Victor... So why did you come to Hogwarts?" Harry asked intrigued.  
  
"Well, you see-," Krum began explaining.  
  
It seemed that Krum came to Hogwarts, recognizing the danger that was rising in England. Krum postponed his quidditch in favor of somehow helping England and hopefully stopping the war from reaching his homeland and family.  
  
Harry learned that Krum had two younger sisters, lost his mother in the first rise of Voldemort, and his father was a top official in the Bulgarian Ministry. Harry vaguely remembered Moody explaining that the first rise of Voldemort lead the war to all over Europe.  
  
Krum explained that having experienced Voldemort's first rise, Bulgaria is lending their full support behind the English Ministry, now that they had a more competent Minister who was dealing with Voldemort.  
  
Krum also explained after having to live without a mother, Krum wouldn't want to sit back and allow someone else to suffer the loss, if he could do anything to help, and wanted to help also. However Krum didn't want to train as an Auror or anything seeing that his fame might somehow make it so that he wouldn't actually fight, but only be used for the government's balls and such.  
  
So Krum saw that the best way for him to help was to teach the students of Hogwarts how to defend themselves, and he was more then qualified. Harry was told that Krum was the top of his class in Transfiguration, his previous incomplete animagi in Harry's 4th year proved that adequately, and Krum was unmatched by even his teacher's in dueling back at Durmstrang.  
  
Harry was at first surprised that Krum threw aside life as a quidditch star to throw himself headfirst into what was a war. But that was until he heard about the loss that he endured and when Harry thought about it, it made sense.  
  
Harry soon got somewhat depressed at all the war talk and went to more pleasant conversation. It seemed that Krum and Hermione broke off their relationship on good terms, knowing that their long distance relationship wouldn't work out.  
  
Krum was hoping to teach as a fully qualified professor after the war, Krum confided in Harry that after seeing Bagman, a former star quidditch player who had gambling problems and was recently rumored to have become officially called for bankruptcy, didn't reassure him of the stability of staying in quidditch.  
  
Harry backed Krum up on his views, and encouraged his decision about teaching. Then Krum went to asking about Harry after realizing that most of the talk had been focused on him. Harry was sheepish to explain that his social life wasn't all that great, which Krum sympathized with him on, knowing full well on the life of a celebrity's.  
  
Soon the rest of the class started walking into the classroom and the two separated. Hermione and Ron entered the classroom and sat to Harry's left as he was all the way in front but at the right-most edge of the class.  
  
The class started in usual back-to-school fashion, with McGonagoll introducing herself and Victor. Everyone turned in their over the summer assignment, which Hermione over stepped the minimum requirement of the length by 1 foot. Then they had the usual back-to-school quiz. To show the teacher how much each student remembered their previous lessons.  
  
Harry looked at all the questions and laughed at the simplicity of it all. Of course if Harry didn't review all his past books on Transfiguration it wouldn't exactly be a laughing matter. What normal kid would remember "the significance of over pronouncing the 'Oh' in the spell to Transfigure a leaf to a stone"?  
  
However to Harry all the information came at a breeze, however he wouldn't be flaunting his knowledge just yet. He didn't want to raise suspicion from the teacher at his over-the-top knowledge all of a sudden. After all, McGonagall would probably believe that he cheated.  
  
So Harry purposely got several wrong, and thought nothing more about it. Later, much later, the tests were collected and just before the bell rung, homework was assigned to the class.  
  
Harry was about to leave the class when he got called back by Professor McGonagall. Harry abruptly stopped causing a girl behind him to bump into him and lose balance. Harry quickly caught and put her upright. Harry looked to see who the girl was, but couldn't identify her. Harry guessed she was one of the exchange program kids and let go of her.  
  
The girl just smiled in thanks and walked out of the classroom. Harry raised his eyebrows at the girl, there was something weird about her. Harry would have thought more but a chough at the front of the room returned Harry's attention to the situation at hand. He gulped, wondering if he didn't get enough of the questions wrong to make her raise some suspicions about him.  
  
Harry walked stiffly up to the teacher's desk and waited to see what she wanted.  
  
"Mr. Potter, you do realize that last year you were banned from quidditch." Professor McGonagall said.  
  
"Yes..." Harry replied.  
  
"Well the ban is lifted, and you are back on the team. Furthermore I believe that you should be this years Quidditch Captain." McGonagall took out a badge from within her desk drawer and brought out Harry's firebolt from underneath her desk.  
  
Harry sighed, knowing that what he was about to say would drastically change his year at Hogwarts. "With all due respect, I believe that it would be wise to spend the many hours spent practicing for quidditch doing something else.  
  
I have re-evaluated the importance of Quidditch and I can't say that the sport is a great. Albiet it does enforces house pride, but however it is at the expense of school pride. I have seen fearsome rivalry rise before every quidditch match, fights arise between people of different houses just for a game.  
  
I won't lie and say that I do not like flying, but I can say that when I think about quidditch that it might be a mistake to have it at Hogwarts. So I will take back my broom, however I will not take the quidditch badge, and furthermore I will not fly for Gryffindor." Harry took his broom and after nodding at a shell shocked McGonagall and an understanding Krum, Harry exited the room. Harry ran back to his room and put his broom back in his trunk.  
  
Harry dearly wished that he didn't have to leave his trunk in his room, but it would arise suspicion at the fact that his trunk went missing everyday, and Harry didn't want it to be public knowledge that he had a trunk that could change into a ring.  
  
The rest of Harry's classes for that day were in that order. Even DADA was boring. Just because they had competent teachers this year, didn't mean that learning how to send curses that Harry himself was teaching the DA last year was very interesting.  
  
The only time that Harry paid attention was when the paranoid Auror recalled one of his first hand experiences in the war. The bell rung soon enough, but once again Harry was called back to the desk.  
  
Moody was standing at the side of the room, while Moony was sitting on the desk grading the summer papers. He stood stiffly waiting for them to explain why he had been called up.  
  
"Potter-,"Moody started ",-you and I know that it is a waste of time learning all these useless spell, it would be much more efficient for you to screw school and go strait to our regular lessons." Moody snorted, "Dumbledore strongly emphasized the need for appearance, /b that doesn't mean that we will let you sit on your ass getting more and more stupid learning these childish spells just for appearance."  
  
Here Remus took over. "I agree Harry, just because Dumbledore doesn't want anyone to know that anything is out of the ordinary, it doesn't mean that you won't be actually be training. You will have lessons with us every morning, and hell will pay before you're getting out of it."  
  
"That's right Potter, I don't care if you have to wake up at 3 in the morning and get only a wink of sleep, but you will /b be slacking off just because you're at this ruddy school. Now at first you will wake up at 5 and report to us at the Room of..." Moody stopped thinking deeply.  
  
"Requirement, Moody." Remus supplied.  
  
"Yes! That room, you will report to that room by 5 o'clock. After tomorrow we will see if you need to come earlier or later, but you better be there Potter, or you will see how many ways to gut a person without killing them." Moody threatened.  
  
Harry rolled his eyes at the threat. However he did nod to show them that he understood. With that Harry left the room thinking.  
  
'That mean's I will have to wake up at about 4:45 to have my morning jog...'  
  
Harry walked to the great hall anticipating the M.D. program. As Harry entered, he was glad to note that not that many people were there, only around 80. That meant that Harry would get a better experience of the program, rather then sitting in a room full of horny guys and jealous girls, like he expected for the H.A.'s.  
  
Harry noted that the usual desks and chairs were cleared showing off the grand size of the Great Hall. Situated at the front of the great hall were Victor, Remus, Moody, Snape, Madam Pomprey, and even Fleur Delacour. It seemed that since this was the first lesson of the elective ever, they wanted to ensure how things went and see if they would need healers.  
  
5 minutes later after guessing that no other students would arrive, the doors to the great hall closed. Harry looked around and guessed that a hundred people showed, and Harry noted somewhat prideful that all but one of his DA members showed up.  
  
Krum spoke, "Hello, I am Assistant Professor Krum and you may call me Krum. However you will not be allowed to call the respective teachers around me anything other then their respective titles. That is unless they tell you otherwise.  
  
Now in this class, I will teach everyone here all I know about Magical Dueling. The professors around shall also help out too, seeing as most of those here have had quite some experience in Magical Duels. Now Magical Dueling isn't limited to just spell casting, but any formal dueling that is approved of by the International League of Magical Dueling is considered Magical Dueling.  
  
Now I emphasize the word "Dueling," because I find that not many people truly know the definition of this word. Dueling is the /b fight between two opposing forces where they /b have a second, but no more.  
  
Dueling by legal standards means that the two duelers have an impartial official of the I.L.M.D. present, the official himself signing a magical contract that says he approves of the duel, and that the two duelers sign a magical contract binding them to the standard I.L.M.D. rules of the duel. If any of the two breaks the rules not only will they be immediately disqualified, but they also face a chance to have their wands snapped and sent to prison, depending on how sever the breaking of the rules are.  
  
Now the I.L.M.D. has three standards of rule. The three standards have been dubbed by fellow duelists as the Death Standard, Honor Standard, and Friendly Standard.  
  
The Death Standard is obvious to what the duel will be like. Anything short of Unforgivables is allowed in this duel, even lethal curses that will kill. However don't hold your breath at trying to get into a Death Standard Duel with someone you hate hoping to be able to legally kill them. The Death Standard Duel is on the brink of being erased from record, and I will find it highly unlikely that any official will approve of the Duel.  
  
The dueling standard is the Honor Standard. The reason this standard had been dubbed so is usually that the reason why the duelers call a challenge to the other dueler in this standard, is because the person's or his family's honor has been called into question by the other person. Anything short of actually killing the man, Unforgivables, and long lasting brain trauma is allowed in this duel. Also the reason why it is called the Honor Standard is because an official usually wouldn't approve of such a duel without the participants showing just reasoning to be in the duel.  
  
The last and most commonly used Dueling Standard is the Friendly Standard. This Standard is the standard we will be using. The Friendly Standard does not allow any spells that kills, Unforgivables, and /b spell considered Dark Arts, unless the two user formerly agree the use of it.  
  
In none of these duels are anyone allowed to wear magical protection, and the only magical focus allowed is a wand and staff.  
  
Now since we are getting to wand and staffs let me tell you weapons allowed by the I.L.M.D. The I.L.M.D. allows the use of swords, magical swords, daggers, magical knives, knives, wands, staffs, and bows. However don't get your hopes up and slashing your opponent to bits, the only weapons you will use in this duel maximum are magical swords, magical knives, wands, and staffs.  
  
Magical swords are actually I.L.M.D. swords and knives, are blunted weapons that is charmed to provide the victim of the hit in a dull pain in the immediate area of the hit. There is no lasting affects, but the pain, you will find, does kill the victim's concentration quite a bit, and the victim's mobility is also cut down. Don't worry though, after the duel a special healing potion can be applied to get rid of the pain easily enough.  
  
The magical weapons also help take the brunt of a spell's effect if you aren't able to dodge the spell. However it will be good to not rely on the magical weapons for blocking seeing as it isn't fully effective.  
  
Now as I stressed the forbiddance of magical protection, any jewelry is to be taken off and robes aren't allowed to be worn in the duel. Now Magical Dueling ends when the other duelist surrenders, or had been down for the count for 10 seconds."  
  
Here Harry's head was racing, 'Would that include my watch too? Now that I think about it my watch's portkey system, where should I place it? And what if someone steals my robes, there is always a chance they may realize the value of my robes and take it. Oh right there's a security spell is it that can't be broken without effecting the robes, making them useless. Jewelry though... Maybe I should have them keyed to me also...'  
  
"Now a Friendly Standard Duel between me and Professor Snape shall be done for practice-," Krum was interrupted.  
  
"Actually I think it would be most interesting for Mr. Potter," Here Snape sneered, "and I to have a friendly spar. To show the students how a former duel between a /b dueler and a wanna-be's differ."  
  
Here Krum seemed hesitant while Moony was grinning, and Moody was smirking. Pomprey looked as if that was the most stupid idea she has ever heard, while Fleur looked worried. "Now, now Prof-,"  
  
"Is that a challenge Professor Snape?" Harry spoke up.  
  
"Why yes it is, I want the class to see how the famous Boy-Who-Lived stacks up against a real dueler." Snape sneered.  
  
"Then I would think a more competent wizard or witch would challenge me, but seeing as you want to /b you worth I accept. Where is the contract and what are the terms?" Harry said easily. He could hear the shouts of Hermione trying to persuade him otherwise.  
  
Snape seemed to glower, even ignoring Harry's insult. "Wands only, Dark Arts allowed. Unless you're scared, Potter?" Snape sneered at the fact of using Dark Arts, knowing that it was his forte.  
  
Harry gave a somewhat insane looking grin, that seemed to even make Snape reconsider his offer, "That means I'm allowed to use Dark Arts also, right?"  
  
"Yes, you dimwit, or are you too stupid to understand that?" Snape practically snapped.  
  
"I accept now let's sign it, and who's the official that will overview the legality of this duel?" Harry said.  
  
"I will Mr. Potter, now are you-," Krum said.  
  
"No need to worry about me Professor. Let me just get this clear though, in case I forgot. Anything short of killing and Unforgivables now that Professor," Harry spat the word, "has agreed to the terms of the Dark Arts?"  
  
"Yes, now if you're sure sign here and step onto the platform." Harry quickly signed with the quill that Krum offered him and took off his robes and jewelry. Then he practically bounced to the platform.  
  
Harry looked at the platform to see that it was a large round mat that covered from one end of the Great Hall to another, and the length was half of the Great Hall's length. Harry saw Snape sign and walk up to the mat.  
  
"Professor Krum, why is the mat so large? There was a dueling club in my 2nd year and it was a narrow platform."  
  
Krum seemed surprised and then ashamed. "Oh how embarrassing. Class! One more thing that I forgot to tell you, in the I.L.M.D. the platform is actually not limited and can be anything the official chooses. That will be all, now professors let us create the perimeter shield." Krum and the rest of the professors raised their wands and a silver dome arouse around the dueling mat. "Now, on my count duelers, you will start."  
  
Harry and Snape faced each other with their wands raised. Snape sneered and said, "You will find that your arrogance will bring you incredible pain, Potter."  
  
"3."  
  
Harry just smirked coldly and made no acknowledgement to his professor's comment.  
  
"2."  
  
"1."  
  
"Go!"  
  
Snape immediately sent a spell towards Harry who merely side-stepped. Snape sent another spell at him while he merely dodged. This went on for another 5 minutes when Snape finally got fed up with him and yelled out to Potter.  
  
"What's wrong Potter too stupid to fight back?" Snape yelled at him.  
  
"Stupid? Well I guess I can't expect much brains from you. Let's look at my condition, and look at yours and let us see who the stupid is." Harry replied.  
  
The class took notice of Snape's condition. You could see his sweat and he portrayed a fatigued expression while Harry was merely smirking showing no signs of exhaustion.  
  
"So we see that the /b dueler has feel for the /b mistake of being led to waste his energy."  
  
Snape seemed to have realized his mistake.  
  
"And you call Gryffindors rash professor." Harry smirked at turning Snape's usual insults for his house against him.  
  
"Gryffindors /b rash, Potter!" Snape shouted in anger at having been mocked by his hated student.  
  
"Then you must be a proud member of the house of Gryffindor." Harry smirked.  
  
Snape seemed to snap again and started sending incredibly advanced Dark Spells. He had until now, remarkably, been sending Light Spells. Harry was finding it more and more difficult dodge spells and began blocking more of the spells.  
  
Harry started to retaliate with sending spells of his own. A pain curse hit Harry in the legs and Harry retaliated with bludgering spell. A solid black ball shot formed at the end of Harry's wand and shot towards Snape. Snape sent a Reductor Curse at the ball and it exploded, however the ball still had momentum. The shards imbedded themselves into Snapes body, making him bleed extremely.  
  
Snape then banished the shards out of his body, wincing as he did. Snape transfigured hundreds of shards into ravens. The ravens surrounded Harry and started piercing his body with their claws and beaks. Snape then spent the time healing himself.  
  
Harry got fed up with the ravens and unleashed a wave of force all around his body and expanded the force. The ravens were blasted away and they hit the floor, walls, and the shield dead. Harry took a page out of Snape's book and transfigured the dead ravens into snakes.  
  
"Attack him! Don't kill!" Harry yelled in parseltongue.  
  
By now Snape was fully healed and realized what was going on. The advancing snakes were met head on by a stream of localized fire. They couldn't advance, but Harry only used the snakes as a diversion tactic while he cast many pain curses at Snape.  
  
Snape even though distracted, blocked the first pain spell, but got bombarded by the other pain spells. The spells were actually tolerable but not when Harry added the lasting pain spells on each other. He although at first was affected, managed to ignore the pain. Harry considered it was because he got "crucio"ed by Voldemort so many times, even a multiple amount of pain curses would pale in comparison.  
  
Snape sent a shredder curse at Harry who jumped out of the way. In mid jump Harry sent a localized gravity spell over Snape, surprising the hell out of him. The spell was incredibly complex and required a great deal of knowledge and concentration.  
  
Harry didn't waste any time as he sent a "dementor" charm at Snape. The spell was of the darkest black imaginable and basically re-enacted the feeling of a dementor in the area. However it was a directed spell so only the one hit with the curse will be affected. The underside, or beauty if a person wants to view it as such, is the fact that the victim feels as if there are close to 20 dementors just surrounding the victim.  
  
Snape apparently knew what the curse was and paled a bit.  
  
There were many different types of spells in the world. The most commonly known were Transfiguration and Charms. However the charms subject was very vague subject and applied an incredibly diverse number of different magic to be taught in the class, emotional magic being one of them.  
  
Spells such as cheering charms and what not were one type of emotional magic, while pain curse and fear curses were another. The dementor charm like many other pain curses and cheering charms couldn't be blocked by magical shields and was an incredibly complex emotion charm that was only rivaled by the Patronus Charm.  
  
Snape once again surprised by the complexity of Harry's spell was too dumbfounded to dodge the spell. He got hit with it full force and started screaming in pain. Harry could only guess that the dementor charm brought up a painful memory for Snape.  
  
Snape shouted in pain while Harry disarmed him. Then Harry shot a more powerful version of the "Stunner" at Snape point blank range. Krum counted to 10 before saying that Harry won the duel.  
  
Harry then walked towards the place where he left his clothing and jewelry, strangely not satisfied by the duel. Harry had an urge to do something more lethal, at least something more painful to Snape. Harry was incredibly disturbed by such thought, but hid it well.  
  
Krum was somewhat shocked at the duel, while Fleur and Madam Pomprey ran to the duelers. Pomprey went towards Snape, while Fleur went to Harry. Obviously Pomprey viewed Snape as the one that needed greater help or she would have gone towards Harry.  
  
Fleur mumbled something and did some complicated swish and flicks that made the end of her wand glow, she then started poking the cuts on Harry immediately making them heal, all the while congratulating Harry.  
  
"That was incredible dueling Harry. I myself was a top dueler at Beauxbatons Academy, and you were far by better then any dueler I saw before." Fleur told Harry.  
  
"Thank you Professor Delacour, so how is Gabrielle doing?" Harry asked.  
  
"I would have hoped that we were close enough to drop formalities," Fleur mock pouted, "but she is fine, she told she was going to owl you, but wanted your permission first. It's so cute how eager she was when she heard I was going to teach at the school you went to. If I am not wrong she has a major crush on you." Fleur teased.  
  
Harry blushed. "I didn't mean to insult you or anything it's just that some people would want to act professional and being on first name basis with a student isn't professional. I really didn't mean anything Fleur. And of course she can owl me, I don't mind at all."  
  
"Oh she would be so happy!" Fleur smiled.  
  
Harry smiled back and looked at her fixing more of Harry's incredibly numerous cuts all around the body, "So you actually want to be a healer? I would never have guessed."  
  
"Oh yes, a healer is an incredibly respected job at my school. France's healers are reputed to be the best amongst the world, but I'm sad to say that they are also one of the most arrogant. I passed the Healer's Academy, held in France and it's believed to be the best Healer school ever, but I need a year's worth of apprenticeship.  
  
Needless to say, prejudice for the fact that I'm part veela made many people refuse my application. Well, the females did, and the men accepted, but I didn't want the position just because of my veela blood so I declined. And it seemed that Headmaster Dumbledore was kind enough to allow me an application at Hogwarts, knowing that he isn't affected or succumbed by my veela charm I accepted." Fleur finished her story with a smile.  
  
"Why not work at your school then, I'm sure Headmistress Maxime would hire you."  
  
Fleur looked sad, "She was removed from her position after word about her being part veela got to Beauxbatons Academy and the French Ministry."  
  
Harry looked shocked and then angry "It's amazing how much prejudice is in the wizarding world. There are so much unfair views on muggles, muggleborns, halfbloods, werewolves, giants, veelas, and what not. Funny thing is I've found better friends amongst muggleborns, werewolves and giants then amongst the supposed better purebloods. Maybe they become more loyal to people after having a constant affinity of hate placed against them." Harry looked sad, and mumbled, "What am I really fighting for?"  
  
Being a veela meant having better then normal eyesight and hearing like their bird counterpart, so she easily heard what Harry said. She felt incredibly sad at hearing his doubt.  
  
Harry seemed to have realized something and nearly shouted, "It takes only a year to become a Healer?" Harry's expression was of one who was surprised and scared out of his mind that people who trained to save lives only had a year of schooling on them.  
  
Harry's shock and fear broke Fleur previously morbid air and she laughed. "Oh no, I don't mean to brag, but I'm not just about looks. I passed top of my class and I'm somewhat ashamed to say that I'm a bookworm. I passed what would have taken 4 years of schooling in 1, but it also helped that I wanted to become a healer ever since my 3rd year and I've been studying for it since."  
  
Harry relaxed and smiled at Fleur, "You're very dedicated then; I can't imagine preparing for something 4 years in advance. I mean actually having to study for something 4 years earlier then I have to what kind of sane person would do that..." Harry mock shuddered.  
  
Fleur shoved Harry. "You're insulting me!" Fleur grinned, "Just kidding, I know you're joking, so then Mr. Last-Minute, what do you want to be Harry?"  
  
"I'm not sure... I wanted to be an Auror, but after seeing them last year made me reconsider. I don't want to be a Ministry worker, and I can't say that I've been too impressed with those arse kissers." Harry said while looking thoughtful.  
  
"All done, I seriously hope that other duels won't be like yours or I'll have my work cut out for me." Fleur said.  
  
"I'm pretty sure they won't." Harry smirked. "I doubt anybody in here know half of the spells that were used now. Such naivety amazes me and saddens me. Although I may have to see you soon, seeing as how the boys in the class wants to kill me." Harry laughed and then looked confused. "Hey, I've been wondering about this a lot, why am I and Professor Dumbledore not affected by your charm?"  
  
"I would guess that it may be the fact that you're incredibly strong willed or be incredibly powerful in magic terms, probably both in my opinion." Fleur said looking thoughtful.  
  
"What does that have to do with anything?" Harry was intrigued at learning what made the veela charm work.  
  
"Well the theory behind the veela charm doesn't exactly have a study done on it. But from my experience with magic I would guess that the charm is basically magic that forms itself into an alluring aura, a weird manifestation of emotional magic. It tempts a person by over inflating their hormones, but to do that it must affect the mind first. If a person is strong willed enough their mind could resist the foreign thing that is trying to manipulate the mind. Or if they have enough power, their natural magic will negate the charm."  
  
"So are you saying a person can be totally in control over themselves?" Harry asked.  
  
"No, I don't think anyone is ever truly unaffected by the veela charm, but there are levels at which people are affected. Take you for example, you don't act like a drooling dog like your friend the Weasley boy, but you might act somewhat nicer to me then you would usually to others. The Professor Snape, I have heard is miserably cruel to others, but even though he isn't kissing my feet he does act incredibly civil to me." Fleur explained.  
  
"So the weaker willed or the less power a person possesses makes them more susceptible to your charms?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yes, that is at least my theory." Fleur said.  
  
Harry grinned at the fact that Ron must be incredibly weak willed /b weak in terms of magic. Then he frowned. "That means you're wasting precious magic on your charm instead of what could be used for other things."  
  
"Well that is true, veelas are naturally powerful in terms of magic, however many doesn't seem so because of their charms. The charms require an incredible amount of the veela's natural power. The problem is that the charm can't be "shut off," it's like natural thing produced by veelas, but being part veela helps me somewhat control it. I can lower my charm enough so that my power can be better redirected to things like spells. That is also why I guessed that I was a tri-wizard competitor, because I was powerful and could actually use that power."  
  
"Oh..." Harry said. "So there are levels at which you can have your charm on, so what level is it now?"  
  
"Lowest, it wouldn't do well for the lesson for the duelers to all of sudden loss their focus. That can be really dangerous." Fleur explained.  
  
"Wait, are you saying that even though your charm is at its lowest there are still guys who are acting like idiots over you?" Harry asked disbelieving.  
  
"Yes." Fleur said simply.  
  
"Your power level must be incredible then." Harry said looking back to the class where another duel seemed to be underway. Harry looked down and noticed that he still didn't put on his jewelry and robes. Harry did just that put it on, while still asking, "So what do people do when your charms on full?"  
  
Fleur looked at Harry and replied, "Well you see them now drooling over me?" Harry nodded. "My charm makes them not only lust over me; I can basically command them to do anything I want. It really depends on the person really; I think if I had my charm on full even you would be affect to the point where you would notice." Harry paled.  
  
"I'll take your word for it." The rest of the class passed with relatively little event. As soon as the class was over Harry went to exit the class but was stopped by an angry Ron.  
  
"So you're using your fame to speak to Fleur?" Hermione seemed to want to slap Ron, but Harry interrupted.  
  
"It might be hard for you to understand, because you have never truly been one, but friendship does exist between people. Just because of the fact that I talk to Professor Delacour doesn't mean that I used my fame to succumb her to my will." Harry rolled his eyes at that; chances are if anyone would succumb to anyone it would have Harry to Fleur if what she said of her full veela charm potential was true.  
  
"I've been your friend forever; you are the one that hasn't been a friend!" Ron yelled.  
  
"Really? So a true friend would be constantly jealous of his other friend? Always whining and complaining about his friend? Having his jealousy blind the obvious truth?" Harry asked.  
  
"And what truth is that?" Ron asked.  
  
"...The truth that I would give anything to have my family again. Obviously you're such a bastard that you would want your family to all die, in exchange for my fame." Harry said venomously. "You could never appreciate what you had Ron, it's people like you that become Death Eaters, people who would look at power and money over family." Harry stormed out of the room.  
  
  
  
uten: I just want to say that the reason why Harry was so angry at Tonks was because she was the first one he had to really talk to in a while. He was incredibly annoyed and angry at being left to the muggles, it was just unfortunate that the first one he had the talk to was Tonks. So he unloaded his shit on her, and when Harry talked to Dumbledore it was after exhausting himself from fighting the duel and from Dumbledore's reasoning. It's almost like trying to get mad after you ran several miles or had a practice boxing match. You exhaust your anger and you're too tired to work up a fight.  
  
Alberforth Dumbledore: Well as I explained to uten, Harry didn't get as mad as he could to Dumbledore because he just didn't have it in him. If Harry met Dumbledore first at the beginning of the story, instead of Tonks, then a hell lot of yelling would have taken place. However I am trying to relate to how I express emotions, I at first get really pissed, but after time I cool off.  
  
Shadow Phoenix: I have seriously considered giving Harry a gun, and most likely I probably will, but not at the moment. I want Harry to realize how effective guns will be, not just to all of a sudden go, "Hey I need a gun!"  
  
Fred: Harry might get a sword, but he has to learn how to use it. I mean I can't imagine Voldemort learning swordsmanship so Harry will have to star from scratch there. 


	4. Chapter 4

Harry Potter & the Tainting of the Light  
  
Chapter 4  
  
A/N: I own nothing.  
  
  
  
(September 2, Thursday)  
  
Harry entered the RoR at 5 o'clock on the dot not wanting to five Moody anymore aggravation then he probably already had. He was currently wearing what he dubbed the 'battle gear,' it consisted of his robes, jewelry, watch, daggers, and his 3 wands.  
  
He saw his two other trainers and they immediately started off in a duel. After Harry lost, and he did under spectacular measures after Moody used a multiple cloning spell. Harry didn't know what the spell that Moody used was, so he thought it was a multiple illusion technique.  
  
Harry used an arc of water to hopefully hit the real person, but Harry realized too late that they weren't illusions as it hit all of the clones. By that time they completely surrounded Harry and proceeded to beat the shit out of him. It seemed that the clones acted almost exactly like the real Moody, but just couldn't use magic. They even had the magical eye spinning like crazy.  
  
Harry unleashed the force magic around his body and threw the clones off of him. Unfortunately, the real Moody and Moony were ready for this, having seen his tactic against Snape, before, and hit him both with stunners. Moody's Harry dodged, Moony's he didn't.  
  
Harry was woken up as Remus started applying healing spells, while Moody showed the technique to doing that spell. Harry learned that it was basically a really advanced conjuring spell and animating spell combined into one incredibly difficult to master spell. It seemed that even Voldemort didn't know this spell, or maybe it was because Harry hadn't learned the spell from reading, because Harry had a hard time learning it.  
  
While Moody created 10 imitations of himself, Harry spent a whole hour getting the concept down and even then only made two clones of himself. Moody and Moony soon left telling Harry not to get too cocky from Snape's duel, and that there would always be more to learn than what he already knew. They also told Harry to meet them at the RoR tomorrow at the same time.  
  
  
  
Harry sat down in the Great Hall after going to Gryffindor's Tower and taking a shower. Harry looked up at the staff's table feeling someone's glare upon his forehead. Harry didn't even have to look to know who it was but did it for kicks. Needless to say, he wasn't surprised to find Severus Snape, the Greasy-Haired-Wanna-Be-Vampire-Potion Teacher of Hogwarts, glaring at Harry.  
  
Harry merely smirked back at him and ignored him for the rest of breakfast. He grabbed a large amount of food, put it on his plate, and then he proceeded to eat his breakfast at a leisurely pace. It was halfway through his meal when he saw Ginny and Hermione enter the Great Hall, obviously in anger. They sat down around Harry who gave them questioning glances.  
  
"Something wrong?" Harry asked Hermione.  
  
"Just that is an immature prat Ron!" Ginny answered for her.  
  
Harry raised his eyebrows at her Hermione, but she wouldn't elaborate. She was just huffing and puffing, stewing in her own anger. Harry then looked towards Ginny in hopes of her explaining further.  
  
"Well Harry, last night while you immediately went to bed, which I may add you shouldn't have seeing as you didn't even eat dinner, Ron stayed back and tried to round up the Gryffindors against you. Tried to say how you used really advanced magic, and how you were turning dark. However unlucky for him, all the Gryffindors that were at the M.D. class already explained what happened at the class to the Gryffindors and also told how Ron acted at the end of the lesson.  
  
So he made a damn fool out of himself, and now the Gryffindors are giving him the cold shoulder. Even though he realized the Gryffindor's attitude about him is pretty low now, it didn't mean that he gave up his "campaign" against slandering you. He even tried to stop us in the morning to get us to side with him. That is why you will find him with a black eye and a broken nose if he comes down to breakfast." Ginny finished explaining.  
  
Harry nodded in understanding, and almost as if fate planned it, Ron Weasley entered the Great Hall at that moment. He tried to find a seat but it seemed that everywhere he went, the Gryffindors closed off any empty space for him to sit. At the end he had to sit at the furthest end of the Gryffinor table and was sulking alone.  
  
"Ginny, don't you think this is a little too much. I mean he has a right to be angry, I know the feeling. I know that I've also been a prat last year, but that didn't mean that you and Hermione ignored me." Harry said feeling somewhat of sympathy for Ron, he may be an arse but he was Harry's friend for several years, and that had to merit for something.  
  
"You can't mean that! Look Harry, you had a reason to be angry, albeit it was somewhat childish, but everyone was flaming you last year, and you've seen death months before that!" Harry tried to interrupt but Ginny's glare cut him off.  
  
"Now listen here, even if Hermione and I didn't exactly like you being angry, we realized what you went through. It was expected, god knows you went through enough! But Ron's anger is out of jealousy and the fact that the person he's lusting over is paying more attention to you than him. So don't you dare say that your situation and Ron's are the same, understood?" Ginny finished with a glare to which Harry could only gulp and nod at.  
  
Harry then finished his breakfast and was about to spend his 2 hours of free time reading but was stopped by Professor McGonagall. She seemed extremely agitated about something as she told him that Professor Dumbledore would like to see him in his office. She said that the password was "Canary Cream" and left to prepare for her class.  
  
Harry looked confused for a moment but then starting heading for the Headmaster's Chamber. As he reached the gargoyle, he spoke the password and went up the imitation escalator. Harry knocked on the Headmaster's door and heard him telling Harry he may enter.  
  
Harry walked in and sat in the seat that Dumbledore offered him. It seemed that Dumbledore was a bit troubled as if wondering how the best way to explain whatever was on his mind was.  
  
"Harry I have heard of your rather magnificent duel against Professor Snape, and I truly hoped that you would have... held back from your full potential in the duel-," Dumbledore was interrupted.  
  
"I did Headmaster, if I didn't /b" Harry spat the word as if it was a disease, "back he would find himself either in St. Muggo's or pushing up daisies. I could have done much more to Snape-," Harry was interrupted.  
  
"Professor Snape, Harry." Dumbledore corrected.  
  
"I'll say his respected title when he starts acting mature enough to hold it." Harry said spitefully. "Like I said, /b" Harry emphasized the work, "got less then what he deserved, and it wasn't like he didn't bring it upon himself. He always underestimated me, and I made sure that he would regret it. I know for a fact that Snape is a fantastic dueler and that it would be pretty unlikely for him to find a handful of professional duelers nowadays that could challenge him." Harry said reluctantly uttering phrase for his Potion Teacher. "However that doesn't mean he made an incredibly stupid mistake at underestimating me, which was the main reason I won," Harry added, "so easily."  
  
"Harry... even if you got Professor Snape to never underestimate you ever again, you also made it so that Voldemort will get wind of this. He will see how much you are improving magically and he will question it. As he will question it, he will launch a full blown investigation, and that is the last thing we will need." Dumbledore explained.  
  
Harry was irritated at being lectured like a child and countered, "But even if it makes Voldemort not underestimate me, my duel will convince more people of the power I possess. Even if I hate to admit it, I do understand that you and I are the figureheads for the 'light' and with showing my power it might make others have more confidence at our chance in this war. What I did may very well have dissuaded more people from deflecting to the 'dark' out of fear." Harry said.  
  
Dumbledore smiled yet his expression showed tiredness. "You're gaining much wisdom Harry, but I still believed that it would have lied more in your favor, if you had the element of surprise."  
  
Harry rolled his eyes, "Headmaster, if you truly didn't want me to show any of my progress to the school, you wouldn't have even set the M.D. or at least forbade me from joining. Let's face it Headmaster, you knew that this would happen sooner of later so stop chasting me for your own actions."  
  
Dumbledore just smiled, although its warmth lessoned. "Well I must admit that your performance has gotten a lot of people to respect your power, and to see you as more then just a student. They are finally seeing you as a force that will change the world." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "As I have been explaining to the school's staff the moment you entered these halls, however it seemed that the staff was less then pleased at the beginning of your progress in class." Dumbledore smiled widely and his eyes twinkled a little.  
  
Harry looked serious while asking, "So what does that mean, will they stop treating me as a child?"  
  
Dumbledore laughed, "Harry, I don't think the staff will ever see you as anything other then /b child. While you may have not realized it, many of the staff has grown overly fond of you and they see you as one over- rebellious child under their care. I believe that Madam Pomprey has even got a bed for you right next to her office, and even though she won't admit it, she would love for you to visit her more, if it weren't under such strenuous circumstances."  
  
Harry almost smirked but then frowned. "But why am I really here, I mean I know you are under a lot of stress and spending time just talking to a student and teasing them about their affinity for trouble isn't the best way to spend it. Besides if this is some stupid way to get my trust or something your wasting both of our times. Times that can be used more efficiently Headmaster"  
  
Dumbledore frowned, "As I said earlier, after your performance, many of the staff has seen your progress and finally understands the level of power which you possess. And even if they don't know the prophecy, they can tell that you will be an important factor in the war that is currently raging.  
  
So it seems that many of the professors want to take you... under their wings if you would say. It may not seem likely Harry, but the professors in these walls are one of the most powerful witches and wizards of their time.  
  
Take professor Flitwick for example, he was a dueling champion that held his title for 17 years, until age finally got to him and he had to retire. Professor McGonagall was the leading researcher for new types of Transfiguration for the Ministry for 24 years until she decided to teach.  
  
Professor Sprout was also the leading Herbologist in America, who didn't like the stress of the job and wanted to teach kids. Professor Snape, even if it is hard for you to believe, is one of the most accomplished Potions Master of his time. He has achieved getting his title in record time, beating his predecessors by a whole year, and has won recognition amongst the potion masters of the wizarding world.  
  
Then there are the new assistant professors. Needless to say Professor Krum is powerful and very knowledgeable in the art of Transfiguration. He may not be up to speed with Professor McGonagall but that is the reason why he is her assistant and not known to the public but also her apprentice.  
  
Professor Delacour, because of her rather unusual genetic makeup, is an incredibly powerful witch and has a very strong amplitude in Charms. It is a shame that she decided a Healers profession, while that is a highly respected job; I wished that she would take an apprenticeship under Professor Flitwick.  
  
Now as I was saying before I wandered off, Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall under the persuasion of Professor Krum thought it best to... help you... in terms of magic. They believe that having a private study with them would be most beneficial for you." Dumbledore said.  
  
Harry was confused, "Headmaster, while I truly appreciate the length at which they want to help me, why would I need to know anything from them when I have... umm that gift." Harry said vaguely not wanting to inform the portraits of his rather unusual gift.  
  
"Yes that gift is handy, and I will not doubt his knowledge of magic. However it is safe to say that his specialty lies far off of Charms and Transfiguration. While he has extensive knowledge of both subjects, I can confidently say that Professor Flitwick and McGonagall have a much more profound understanding of their individual subject then even he can hope to achieve." Dumbledore said.  
  
"But Professor McGonagall has an apprentice already, how will I study under without disturbing their normal routine, I don't want to tamper with Krum's training." Harry said worried.  
  
"Harry, while Professor Krum is Professor McGonagall's apprentice, Professor Krum also agrees with me that it would be the best interest of everyone if your lessons came first." Dumbledore said. "And don't think that by reading books that you will be able to succeed in something much better then actually learning under someone that probably already read the books that you are reading and in addition having a multitude of experience under the subject. While books may be a great tool for knowledge, a first hand experience is better way of obtaining knowledge."  
  
Harry sighed. "My schedule is already pretty filled, so I guess the only time I have for this will be on the weekend."  
  
Dumbledore nodded.  
  
Harry looked thoughtful then remembered his promise to stop replacing responsibilities for freedom. Harry also held some reservation about receiving help from Dumbledore, he hated how reliant he was to Dumbledore already and caving into Dumbledore's proposal would make him even more reliant on the old man's influence.  
  
Harry inwardly sighed, even though Harry was incredibly mad at Dumbledore's ignorance last year, Harry couldn't just ignore the man. Harry hated to admit but Dumbledore was smart, wise, and had a lot of influence in the world.  
  
He needed him, at least for now, when he was nothing but a student, a student who had no true influence in the wizarding but his fame. He hardly knew anyone truthfully other then those Dumbledore himself had him meet.  
  
Harry didn't hate the man; he hated how blind he was at some moments but not the man. There were very few people Harry did hate, Voldemort for one, Wormtail for two, Bellatrix for three, and just about every death eater that he knew. Then there were the Dursleys but they were a whole another level of hate. He didn't them much as he did for those that literally destroyed his life, but it was still enough for him to not even blink an eye if their life came to an end in front of him.  
  
So no, Harry didn't hate Dumbledore, if he ever found out that Dumbledore purposely wanted his parents to die to force the prophecy into effect or something, then he would hate him. But from the looks of things he did all he could to try and protect his parents and for now he was only mad at him.  
  
Yet even though Harry might be mad at Dumbledore, he would just have to swallow his pride and accept things for what they are. At the moment, he was but an amateur and a pawn in the game of chess that was life, while Dumbledore controlled half the field.  
  
At least for now, now until Harry got stronger and could bring in more influence. But he didn't have time to venture around the wizarding world at the moment, trying to secure allies. Now he had time for one mission, the mission to avenge his parents and his godfather.  
  
And no matter how much Harry was mad at Dumbledore; it would always pale in comparison to how much he hated the hypocritical dark lord, Voldemort.  
  
"Okay Professor, could you tell the Professors that I accept their help?"  
  
Dumbledore looked happy and yet also sad at the same time at Harry's decision, happy that he was taking things seriously and sad that he had to so early on his life.  
  
Dumbledore wasn't finished however, "There is another thing Harry, while you have had some physical fighting experience with Professor Lupin, he admits that he isn't very proficient at it. Therefore I pulled some strings to get you a trainer for physical fighting. With your permission you will meet will your instructor every Saturday at 7:00pm to 10:00pm. Do you agree?"  
  
Harry sighed while agreeing.  
  
"Oh and Harry you will meet with your Charms teacher at about 1:00pm to 4:00pm on Saturday and Professor Mcgonagall from about 4:00pm to 7:00pm. That is unless they think that you may leave earlier then intended. Now that I held you back already..." Dumbledore looked at his pocket watch, "...I believe that you have an hour to till Charms start. Do enjoy the year as best as possible. While life should not be a game, it shouldn't be just considered a job. Emotions and experience now will forever shape your future."  
  
Harry seemed to have remembered something that he was curious about for a while.  
  
"Professor Dumbledore? Remember how you said he well gave me information about his life?"  
  
"Yes, I said that."  
  
"You said that he didn't give me his soul however, so should anything he gave me affect my emotions? I mean to act differently?" Harry asked hesitantly.  
  
Dumbledore looked serious, "What do you mean?"  
  
Harry sighed, "Well, as of lately, I've been getting disturbing emotions. Emotions that want to see blood, to see death. I've been feeling that and revenge more and more everyday. I thought that you said he didn't transfer his soul to me, so I've been wondering if I'm just turning evil."  
  
The headmaster sighed. "Harry, he didn't transfer his soul to you, no. However no soul is evil when born; you must understand that every child born to this world is pure and very precious. It is the harsh world that makes a child lose its innocence; it is the experiences that make a person what they are, not how they are born.  
  
As you have his knowledge, you know what he went through, unconsciously at the moment. You must understand that emotions are also memories, every laugh, every smiles, every hate, is etched onto the brain like a branding iron. With the emotions are memories that are also associated with them. I am guessing that you felt these things at the Dursleys and Professor Snape?"  
  
Harry nodded.  
  
The Headmaster looked pained. "Well, I can't say that I expected this, but I can't say that I also truly ruled it out. Harry, the time when Tom Riddle was first sent to the orphanage to the time when he left their cares forever, he was abused, not just physically but also mentally. I believe that because of his past's similarity with yours at the Dursleys, his emotions, when he was also experiencing the same thing, are reaching out to you." Harry looked pained.  
  
"Harry, I can not express to you how much I am sorry for leaving you in their care. I have only recently been told of your life with them, I thought that because you are their family-"  
  
"They are not family! Family lies more then blood!" Harry shouted. He then took large deep, breathes and calmed himself. "You must have suspected something. Even the Weasleys and Professor McGonagall noticed it. I agree no physical marks were left because I wasn't beaten after I got my letters, but even Ron could tell that there something was wrong with me."  
  
Dumbledore seemed to age tenfold, "Harry I-," Dumbledore seemed to stop.  
  
"There is no need to apologize. I don't truly care if you are blind, stupid, or just cruel, but what is done is done. I just hope that you will rectify your mistake, and you damn well better make sure I don't go to the muggles again. Now if you are done." Harry said curtly and left the room without even waiting for Dumbledore to dismiss him.  
  
Harry went back to his room and started reading books on animation spell. He wanted to learn more about it after Moody's cloning spell was introduced to him.  
  
After Harry read the book, he couldn't get understand why he was only able to get 2 clones rather then Moody's 10, however Harry did find an interesting twist in animation spells that could give magical properties to the clones.  
  
It took a 3 step process in the cloning instead of the usual 2 step. That also meant that the spell would be much more complex and that Harry more then likely wouldn't be able to use it in duel. Even the 2 step cloning spell took a rather long time for Harry, and the 3 step process would probably double the time taken to make the spell work.  
  
Harry would not only have to conjure the clones, which was complicating within itself, and then animate it, which was a study only briefly covered even in 7th Year NEWT's. Then he also had to give the clones a bit of usable magic within them.  
  
They weren't very smart but Harry could make them do simple stunners and reductor spells, and depending on how much magic the user gave to the clones, the clones would last a long time in a magical duel, stamina-wise.  
  
Harry still saw the usefulness in the spell if he ever knew he was going to get ambushed and needed support to make the duel evened out. However magic couldn't be made out of thin air, so in placing magic within the clones, Harry had to sacrifice some usable magic within himself. In the end his magical supply would replenish but not quickly enough as Harry would be drastically weaker in a duel in magical terms.  
  
Harry tried out the spells in his room, seeing as no one was in their. Harry created 2 clones like before, but he ordered them to shoot stunners at him. They both did so and Harry blocked the spells to see how much power was behind them.  
  
Harry could easily block the magic, seeing as they had as much power behind them as a 3rd year. If Harry could make more clones then they would be able to distract the other person better at least if not being effective power wise. So that was the next thing Harry worked at after he dispelled the lifeless clones.  
  
Sometime later Harry looked at his watch and saw that he had 10 minutes before Charms started. In that time Harry still didn't get how to create more clones, and Harry resigned his efforts in hopes that Moody would explain it to him later.  
  
Harry put his book away and headed for Charms. Harry was surprised to find that the class was already half full when he entered, but as he looked again and found that they were all guys, Harry wasn't surprised. They also piled up the front half of the classroom and Harry had to snort had how hormonal the guys were.  
  
Harry sat in the farthest corner of the classroom away from the front. 4 minutes later the class was full and Professor Flitwick and Professor Delacour started the class. They introduced themselves to the class, with the male half, except a few boys, lustfully looking at Fleur, and the other half, all of the girls, looking at disgust at the boys.  
  
Flitwick seemed used to this reaction as he un-expectantly sent a charm at the class. Harry didn't mean to but out of instinct he drew his wand out in a hurry and created a magical shield. The spell hit everyone but Harry, which Flitwick noticed but didn't seem to mind.  
  
The male half of the classroom seemed dazed and they shook their head. When they looked around the classroom they didn't seem to be staring at the veela in lust, as much as usual anyways. Harry and most of the class looked confused at what happened.  
  
"That class, is a mind strengthening spell, it helps fortify the will of the mind albeit only for about a 30 minutes usually, but my spell lasts for an hour. So I will have to repeat this spell once more in this class. Now that I have your full attention let us begin class shall we?"  
  
Flitwick began lecturing the class in his high pitched voice and Harry listened intentively to the man that would soon be his private instructor. Harry never noticed it before, but Flitwick was intimidating. Now Harry would laugh if Flitwick asked to wrestle with him, but if Harry were to duel with him, Harry would think twice before accepting.  
  
The class ended with notes being taken down, and Harry once again was called back. Now Harry didn't really mind considering that he didn't have class next. Harry went up to the front and waited till Flitwick finished organizing the papers on the desk. Harry smiled and gave a wave at Fleur then looked expectantly at the tiny professor. He seemed confused about something and blurted out.  
  
"Professor Flitwick I have been wondering about this most of the class and I can't help but ask you, I thought emotional spells couldn't be blocked, but how did you help you cast a spell on the class to make them pay attention?" Harry asked.  
  
Flitwick's face brightened at having a questionable student asking about Charms.  
  
"Mr. Potter, it lies in the physics of the magic. You do understand that Ms. Delacour's charm is only emotional magic?" Harry nodded. "Emotional magic in reality is just a form of mind altering magic  
  
If you think about it, emotional magic makes a person behave unlike how they normally would be acting by overpowering the mind with a foreign magic, so it can rightfully be classified as Mind Magic. It is vastly similar to the Imperio Curse, however much more subtle.  
  
While the Imperio Curse is the active commanding of the mind, emotional magics "wills" the mind to alter the chemicals of the brain for certain emotions making them out of control. It is amazing how different and yet still similar magic is." Flitwick had a faraway look in his eyes. He then realized what he was doing and went back to lecturing with a pink tint on his cheeks.  
  
"So as you understand how emotional magic is just a type of mind magic, you can understand why emotional magic cannot be blocked, seeing as it is mainly a part of mind magic?" Harry nodded.  
  
"Well I'm sure you can understand this part then Mr. Potter, the mind cannot be blocked from magic by magic however the mind can fight off the foreign magic through pure will. What I did was direct the will of the students and fortified their determination with a twist of a "confidence" emotional spell to throw off Ms. Delacour's magic." Flitwick finished explaining with a bright smile.  
  
Harry was thoughtful, "Brilliant... so you used your own magic to not counter the actual magic of Fleur's but to give a 'push' in the right direction for the mind to fight it off itself."  
  
Flitwick smiled and nodded eagerly.  
  
Harry smiled brightly, "Wouldn't that mean that you can use the spell you just used to help people fight off the Imperio?"  
  
Flitwick visibly sulked. "If it was only that simple Mr. Potter... It has already been tried, many times in fact. It does help the person somewhat I agree. However the problem lies with the power behind that spell and the will of the person.  
  
While Ms. Delacour's emotional magic is incredibly effective, there lies a subtle difference between the Veela's charm and the Imperio Curse. The veela's charm triggers the emotional side of the brain and overflows the person's hormones while also reducing the interaction between the logical side of the brain and the emotional side.  
  
Not by much but it is enough for the males who already have a limited connection between the two sides. I am guessing because the females have a stronger interaction between their left and right cerebrum that they aren't affect to the point of notice.  
  
But for the boys, the charm cloud's their normal sense of logic and because of that their mind doesn't will itself to fight the spell. So my spell merely strengthens their logical part of their brain and not counteract with the spell which merely affects the emotional part of the brain and gets them to have their will back to normal, where they would fight the spell off on their own.  
  
As you elaborated I only 'push' the person in the right direction of the battlefield, not fight for them. However, the Imperio is the total enslavement of the mind where the will of the caster subdues the will of the victim. The victim still has their will in full-"  
  
Harry interrupted, "But I remember when I was under the imperio that I wasn't fully in control at first, I was feeling abnormally happy and free. That was why I first had a hard time fighting off the spell, because I was reluctant to free myself from the happy and free feeling. After I overlooked that it was easy to fight the spell."  
  
Flitwick looked intrigued, "Really Mr. Potter? That isn't how the spell is normally, who put the spell on you?"  
  
"Crouch Jr., in my 4th year he put everyone in my class under the spell." Harry clarified.  
  
"Yes, yes... I know of him, taught him myself. He was brilliant in Charms, one of my best students actually. He was really ambitious and had to prove himself always though, I believe that was because of his father. Hmm... From what I heard from Headmaster Dumbledore, he was under the Imperio for many years had he not?" Flitwick asked.  
  
"Yes, over a decade, I believe. He was under it almost constantly." Harry said.  
  
Flitwick looked very tired. "As I said Mr. Crouch was a brilliant student in Charms, my theory is that he had been under the curse for so long, that he was able to find out every nick and cranny of the spell.  
  
My guess is that having been the brilliant mind that he was, he even made an improvement to the Imperio Curse. It seems that not only did the spell from him have an iron fist over the other mind's will, but he also enforced it with an emotional clouding much like Ms. Delacours Veela Charm. Improving spells aren't unheard of, but I hardly thought anyone would improve that particular spell. Yes, I do believe that I must talk with Headmaster Dumbledore on this." Flitwick mumbled.  
  
"Now Harry, I understand that you have accepted my proposal?" Flitwick piped up trying to deter the conversation.  
  
Harry pulled out his wand and sent a silencing spell over the whole room to prevent any eavesdroppers. He should have done that earlier but Harry didn't expect to talk to Flitwick anything more then how the spell he used worked.  
  
"Yes I did, but why would you even propose such an idea? I mean I'm sure you have a lot of paperwork to do and spending 3 hours correcting them could drastically help the workload."  
  
Flitwick smiled at Harry's consideration. "That doesn't matter as much anymore Mr. Potter, not ever since I received an Assistant Professor. Professor Delacour helps with the workload cutting what I have to do in half, allowing me more free time. But Mr. Potter, are you sure about this?"  
  
"Now more then ever since I heard your incredible knowledge of Charms. I wouldn't have ever grasped what you did today on my own." Harry said.  
  
"Yes but the magic I will go into will be far more advanced then the ones you will ever hope to learn in school. I also will not take slacking off lightly, but I also understand that your schedule will be incredibly tight this year, and while I don't want to seem to be giving you favoritism, I will cut your workload down." Flitwick said sympathetically.  
  
"No! That will arise suspicion, it's going to be bad enough that I will disappear for several hours every weekend but if you start showing me biased amounts of favoritism then people would only be able to somehow connect it to you also. That leaves me a question, how will I disappear every weekend with arising suspicion, how will I be able to disappear without having people trail me and try to find out what I'm up to?"  
  
Flitwick smiled. "Well Mr. Potter with you affinity for trouble, it wouldn't be so suspicious if you... got into a bit of a fight with Professor Snape. He will in the end send you to detention every weekend ranging from 1 to 10."  
  
"Wouldn't that rise suspicion I mean, I highly doubt people wouldn't bat their eyebrows for having a yearlong detention even if Snapes the one assigning it." Harry said dryly.  
  
"Oh Mr. Potter, that could easily be solved with... the level of trouble you arise with Professor Snape. Now we have made a plan that will have to be carried out without suspicion. After all as you said, a yearlong detention would seem somewhat strange if you merely blow up a potion accidentally.  
  
In potions Snape will insult... your family pride. I'm sorry to say but he will, but then you will seemingly snap and send a stunner at Snape who will deflect it and call for punishment. At first he will call for expulsion but then after Snape calls for Professor McGonagall and Headmaster Dumbledore, they will seemingly negotiate for you to have detention every weekend for such a dire breaking of the rule so close to expulsion policy.  
  
Snape will demand that you have to report from morning to night, however Professor McGonagall and Headmaster Dumbledore will once again interfere. They will make you have to report to me on the weekends, under the reason that I told them that I needed help grading papers what with the extra students that came to Hogwarts, but only in the afternoons.  
  
And you will report to Professor Hagrid in the evening for your detention in the Forbidden Forest. But then as the three fire-calls for me to explain about the detentions I will explain that I would only need you for one day and at most for a few hours. So Professor McGonagall shall interrupt and say that she will take over from 4pm to 7pm on Saturday, explaining that you are her student and that she will help in your punishment.  
  
She will also explain to Headmaster Dumbledore the importance of your school work time, and that leaving no time just because of detention will severely hurt your studies. So she will suggest that you have Sunday off, at least one day to have to yourself.  
  
So in the end it would seem convincing that even though your due punishment is expulsion that the Headmaster and your head of house shall pull some influence and luckily cushion your punishment. That is how I will have you from 1pm to 4pm, Professor McGonagall from 4pm to 7pm, and whatever extra curricular activity with Professor Hagrid from 7pm to 10pm." Flitwick finished explaining the elaborate plan.  
  
Harry blinked in astonishment of how complex the plan was. "And you... all thought of this in an hour of my acceptance?" Harry was flabbergasted.  
  
"Oh no Mr. Potter, we knew you would accept without a doubt, especially after you denied quidditch in preference for studies. I do hope that Ravenclaw now stands a chance at winning the cup now that Hogwart's most experienced seeker is out of the picture." Flitwick grinned to show that he didn't really mean it.  
  
"So I have to do this tomorrow?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yes, the moment you have class with Professor Snape, he will put the plan under way."  
  
Harry thanked Flitwick and pulled out his wand to undo the silencing spell. He exited the room with a wave to the two professors. Harry went back up to his room hoping to read more about the cloning charm to hopefully make more then two clones.  
  
After 30 minutes of countless re-evaluation of the subject, Harry threw the books away in disgust. Harry didn't understand why he couldn't get the damn spell to be more efficient, and tried to settle for practicing his more 'darker' spells. Those helped Harry relieve his stress rather well and that was what Harry needed now.  
  
Harry dragged his trunk onto his bed and pulled the curtains around him. He sent every prevention charm, to keep the curtains from opening, he knew to the curtains and opened his first compartment. He took out a piece of parchment and then closed it. He opened it again, this time for the second compartment, and stepped into it.  
  
Harry started reading many of the Dark Arts spells and then after practicing the wand movements, sent it at the wall. It wasn't really effective; Harry just needed to be able to shoot the spell, while relying on the fact that Voldemort probably already knew it so he should also.  
  
He soon worked off his frustration and anger, and put the books away. Harry found it an amusing way to motivate himself to learn new spells, seeing as he never got bored learning the vicious spells when angry.  
  
Harry then put the Dark Arts book away and grabbed the book on Parseltongue.  
  
The book supposedly gave the history of Parseltongue. It wasn't as interesting as Harry thought it was going to be. It merely went into depth what Dumbledore already told him. However even the book couldn't go into details of how the tongue of snakes first came into being. The book was disgustingly plain and uselessly informative.  
  
He put the book away and read the book about Auror and Deatheater spells that he also got at Borgin and Burkes. The Aurors were trained heavily in the past, having many veterans from Grindewald's reign, but it seemed that after the first rise of Voldemort, Fudge, being the idiot that he was, disbanded and fired most of the veteran Aurors.  
  
Aurors that were efficient and vicious against the Death Eaters. Aurors that held much praise amongst the Ministry. Aurors that Fudge obviously saw as a threat against his position.  
  
Only a few were left, most that proved themselves readily to Fudge, and they were usually the incompetent ones that couldn't tell a death eater from a lethafold. So the Auror's skills has gone into the dumps, but Harry vague recalled Kingsley saying something about Madam Bones bringing in the veterans once again to train the Aurors.  
  
Harry wondered what was going on with Fudge anyways; it was that idiot that practically weakened Britain enough for such vulnerability. Madam Bones must be having a very stressful time re-organizing everything; luckily she has Dumbledore's, and many of the other Heads of the Ministry's, full support.  
  
The Death Eaters were actually smarter then Harry gave them credit for. They were arrogant yes, but during the first rise they were incredibly efficient. Only the rookies were taken on the hit and run raids, but the veterans were incredibly skillful in a duel and very powerful in terms of magic.  
  
But Harry was surprised at how the information vastly contrasted with how the Death Eaters at the Ministry. They were supposedly all from Voldemort's inner circle also.  
  
Maybe the best of Voldemort's forces held out till the last, and the only ones left are either the ones that were thrown into Azkaban or they were only so high in Voldemort's rank because of their family's influence rather then their power, and as such they were able worm their way out.  
  
That would explain Bellatrix, in the book she was a fearsome dueler, where many rookie Aurors supposedly shitted in their pants when they saw her. Harry guessed that 14 years in Azkaban must have severely weakened her mind and body. However, if she were to recuperate to full health from her time in Azkaban, she would definitely be a force to be reckoned with.  
  
That also explained Lucius' horrible dueling skills and yet his high rank in Voldemort's forces. His family had connections in the Ministry, although now they were useless, and a rather substantial fortune that would be able to supply Voldemort's campaign with funds.  
  
Both sides really lacked formations and attacking strategy however. Harry guessed that no strategy was really set because of the limbo that was magic, whilst muggles securely calculated everything with logic, what the best way to attack and defend was.  
  
However Auror and Death Eaters seemed to understand power as only number superiority. Both sides were really dimwitted in that perspective.  
  
Most of the fights led them to have a one on one fight with each other, rarely using their minds to try and overpower and outsmart their opponents. It was actually funny how sad they were in comparison to muggles interms of strategy. And the arrogant purebloods had the nerve to call muggles stupid.  
  
Suffice to say Harry didn't like his muggle upbringing, but there was no way he would doubt the muggle's capability to use their minds to fully take advantage of any situation. They didn't have to rely on magic so their resourcefulness was unmatched by those of magical decent.  
  
Just look at how many ways they found to kill people and look at how many weapons they have to do it. Harry didn't have to go to a muggle school to know about the nuclear warhead that killed 100's of thousands in one blast. The immediate and later deaths caused by radiation dropout.  
  
No in some aspects wizards may be superior to muggles, but when it came to killing and warfare, wizards would take centuries to even match the muggles of this time. At least at the rate they were going.  
  
Harry looked at his watch saw that he had a few minutes until H.A. started, so Harry put his book away.  
  
Harry then went for the door and pulled out the blank parchment that he grabbed earlier. He whispered an oh so handy password that unlocked the Marauder's Map. Harry was satisfied to see that no one was in the Harry's dorm room; Harry snorted thinking that they probably ran to the H.A. meeting in hopes of getting a good seat for the 'lesson.'  
  
Harry exited the compartment and placed his map in the first compartment after vanishing the map. Harry then walked slowly and without rush to the H.A. meeting. Harry walked into the Great Hall and was bemused and annoyed at how stacked the Great Hall. About 1/4th of the female population showed up with almost all of the male population from the looks of things.  
  
Harry was disgusted at their lack of control over their hormones, but ignored it. Harry walked off to the side of the room and waited for the class to begin.  
  
"Good afternoon class I am Madam Pomprey, Professor Firense," Madam Pomprey paused presumably to introduce the centaur, "and Professor Delacour," again she paused, but Harry couldn't tell what she was doing for either because of the sea of heads that blocked his vision.  
  
Harry was dreading the decision to come to the meeting more and more. From the looks of things Harry would hear what he had to do but that was about it.  
  
"Also I kindly introduce you to Professor Flitwick-," Madam Pomprey was cut off.  
  
"Mens Mentis Fulcio Volo!"  
  
Harry heard the spell that Flitwick used in Charms that morning and could see a sea of color descending on the crowd that was in front of Harry. Soon it even reached him, and Harry let it, knowing what it was.  
  
Madam Pomprey's voice rose once again, "Thank you professor, although I wish you would tell me when you would do that. Now Professor Flitwick has kindly offered to help with this lesson after seeing the list of applicants. Now Professor Firense is only here today because it is the first day of class, however for the most part the professor will not be here, only the days that he wants to teach the centaur's proficiency at healing, but that is for later.  
  
Now this class WILL have homework. I have just discussed it with Headmaster Dumbledore and he saw that it was a good idea. This class will also have tests. This will have a grade, although it won't hurt your overall year score, your grades WILL be sent home. Now if anyone quits this class AFTER today then they will receive a grade based on their grade upon exiting, PLUS a zero on the rest of the assignments of the year.  
  
I will also have physical and written tests. On the physical tests you will have a partner to try the healing magic's that I will teach you. Successful tries will be awarded points, while non successful will be deducted. I will also inflict injuries onto you to see if you can fix it. So if you are here to goof around and think this will be an easy way to goggle at the opposite sex, get OUT! I promise you that if I ever find you goofing off and nor paying attention you will find yourself in detention, be forbidden to go to Hogsmeade for the rest of the year, AND not allowed to got to the ball."  
  
The majority of the males and more then 3/4th of the females left the hall after the announcement. It seemed that the male population were able to think back to normal, and the words homework, test, and grade got them wising up. The females, Harry guessed, were also discouraged with the extra work added with the fact that they might have a chance to be forbidden to go to Hogsmeade and the ball.  
  
Harry sighed in a silent thanks to whatever god was listening. Though, from Harry's, experience, if anyone was up there they sure sucked at their job. Harry walked up to the mostly empty room. Harry looked around and saw 10 males with about 50 to 70 girls.  
  
Madam Pomprey seemed really relieved at the number of people and Fleur and Flitwick seemed amused at what just happened. Firense looked indifferent to it all. Firense caught Harry's eyes and gave a brief nod which Harry returned.  
  
Flitwick waved his wand and immediate desk with chairs appeared. Pomprey told them to sit and started lecturing them on what they would learn this year. Flitwick waved his wand again and about 70 to 80 books flew the students. Each student got a book and Harry was no exception.  
  
Madam Pomprey told them that the books were their study material for the rest of the year and that they better get reading on the book's material. He looked down at the book that rested on his desk and saw that it was a healer's book. He wasn't so surprised at what book it was, merely at the fact that the school provided it.  
  
"This year we will learn many things that could very well save your life. Sometime later the individual year you all will be separated accordingly by your grades to learn spells more suitable for your age. However that will be in at least a month and for now we will cover spells that will easily be suited for 3rd years and above. This is to help you gradually get a hang of the spells, I wouldn't want to all of a sudden rush you into fixing a severed limb, and having you blow the rest of the arm off for your inexperience." Some student's chuckled but Harry didn't at seeing her serious expression.  
  
"Now opened your books to page 5 where the books shall give you the first spell you will learn today. It will cure minor bruising. Now pay important detail in your swishes or else you may very well make the situation worse. Now this spell isn't shot out like the magic like you are used to, but the spell maintains itself around the edge of the wand. From there you need to apply the wand gently over the area of the burn or bruising. Also don't forget the incantation needs to have a heavy stress on the first syllable of "Exuro Condico."  
  
Madam Pomprey demonstrated the spell for the class and her wand glowed blue on the tip. Madam Pomprey explained for the group to split into pairs and wait for further instructions. The group quickly did; eager to get started. Harry looked around to see if he could find a pair.  
  
He immediately looked for Hermione, figuring that she would be there, but she was already paired with Ginny. It seemed that she believed that he would bail the class like the others did and didn't even bother looking for him.  
  
Harry saw Neville but he was already paired with Luna. Most of the class were already paired up and Harry found only one other person to pair up with. She wasn't familiar so Harry guessed that she was one of the exchange students.  
  
He walked up to her and asked if he could be her partner.  
  
The girl looked around nervously and then looked resigned, "Well I guess I don't have much choice."  
  
Harry smirked, "Glad to know you're so eager to pair up with me, don't worry I'm pretty sure I won't make you grow three heads trying to help you." Harry tried to reassure.  
  
The girl still didn't look too relieved.  
  
"Look don't worry, I promise that if I ever make you crap out of your pants or make you get thousands of pimples, I personally will take the blame and you can hex me to oblivion." Harry tried to reassure her once again.  
  
"It's not that..." The girl said.  
  
"Then what?" Harry asked.  
  
The girl shook her head, "You wouldn't understand don't worry."  
  
Harry shrugged and then waited for Madam Pomprey to tell them what to do.  
  
"Now class you will come up in pairs, and don't rush, to Professor Delacours, Professor Flitwick, or I. You may NOT do the spell unless within our immediate supervision, anyone caught doing so will get kicked out of the classroom so hard and fast that you'd wish you'd stick around to learn the spell to cure the bruise that would most definitely appear on your butt. Now you may come up here."  
  
The groups of two hesitantly walked up to the teachers. Harry saw that even with 3 teachers, this would take a long time to get done, so Harry started talking to the new girl again.  
  
"I'm Harry by the way, what's your name?"  
  
"Uh- It's Dora, Dora Novo McBlack." The girls said brightly.  
  
Harry looked at her strangely, "Well it's nice to meet you Dora, so why did you come to Hogwarts?"  
  
"Umm... my parents thought that Hogwarts was the best place to go now that You-Know-Who's back. I went to a private school for magic, you probably wouldn't have even heard of it. But now my mum and dad made me transfer." Dora said.  
  
"That must suck." Harry said eying her weirdly.  
  
Dora agreed with him wholeheartedly. Harry focuses at the line's length and found that they still weren't even halfway there from the start.  
  
"So what do your parents do?" Harry asked.  
  
"Well my mum used to work for the Ministry, but now she's a happy house wife." Dora added grinning. "And my good old dad is muggle, he's a lawyer. Know what they are?" Dora asked.  
  
Harry nodded and looked up to see how long they had until it was their turn.  
  
"Well anyways, my dad and mum been married for a while before they had me, heard dad was as shocked as a guy who won a lottery when my mum told him that she was a witch. It's still a good joke around the house when she thought that he got a concussion from hitting his head on the floor so hard passing out." Dora laughed.  
  
Harry smiled at her and noticed that it was finally there turn. Fleur was open so Harry and Dora went to her. Fleur smiled to Harry and nodded to Dora.  
  
"Well you hopefully had read the section that Madam Pomprey instructed as you should have. Don't forget to flick the wand from top to bottom and then add a 45 degree counter clockwise turn to the wand like this," Fleur gave an example, "before saying the incantation. You should hopefully get a blue light, the darker the better and if you do we'll see how effectively your spells work."  
  
Dora said the incantation and her wand tip glowed a dark blue. Fleur smiled at Dora and then pointed her wand at Harry. She told him to give her his hand and Harry did so questionably. Fleur muttered some words and Harry's arm had a disgusting looking bruise. It was purple and blue with shades of dark red at the edges.  
  
Fleur told Dora to try and fix him up and Dora pressed her wand into Harry's arm. Harry hissed at the movement and Fleur told Dora that she didn't have to press the wand into him, just to make sure that the glowing part of her wand was in the immediate vicinity of the bruise. After a few seconds the coloring went down to a dark red. Fleur nodded and Harry drew back his arm.  
  
She told him to do the spell and Harry's wand lit a shade of blue somewhat lighter then Dora's. Fleur did the same thing to Doras and Harry made sure to not stab her arm like she did his with her wand. The arm had a coloring that was still faintly bluish. Fleur nodded once again and fixed Dora's arm to normal herself.  
  
"Good job Harry, Dora." Fleur congratulated them.  
  
Harry smiled at Fleur and walked away. Dora seemed to hesitate but then followed him also. They both stood off to the side and waited for the rest to finish.  
  
"So, how are you so good with healing spells?" Harry asked.  
  
Dora seemed hesitant but replied, "Oh, practice makes perfect." Dora added with a smile.  
  
Harry smiled somewhat forcibly to the girl. The rest of the class went without a hitch with the teachers explaining the theory behind healing magics, and the many types of healing magic.  
  
Harry was interested to learn of the variety of healing magic. They ranged from spells, herbs, potions, and blessings. He also learned that certain healing magics were more effective for certain wounds. Like spells and herbs for more of the damage that happened outside the body. Yet potions were more potent for damages within the body, such as organs, bones, and brain damage.  
  
Blessings were more for lasting brain trauma, although most blessings were out of date and were cast aside with potions and spells that were more proficient and easy to learn then blessings.  
  
Pomprey told the class that the majority of the time the class would learn spells, with Professor Snape stepping in occasionally to teach the potions. Firense was to cover the herb portion of the healing magic.  
  
The lesson was soon over and Harry walked out of the room slowly. He kept a steady distance from Dora but made sure to never leave his eyes off her. Harry didn't trust her; he couldn't trust her, not when he felt the burning of his ring when she told her his name and reason for coming to Hogwarts.  
  
Harry didn't know if she was some sort of Death Eater spy or not, but he would just have to keep an eye out on her. The last thing he would need is to blow her cover in front of the school to find out that she was in hiding from Voldemort or something.  
  
  
  
Saetan: I severely doubt that I will make Ron a deatheater. I mean I only related Ron to a death eater earlier to make it so Harry reminds Ron of how he is acting, and how stupid he is being.  
  
TuxedoMac: I'm sorry if my story reminds you of another. However I have been reading a lot of Harry Potter stories, so I may have unintentionally stolen an idea from some story that I have read before. Or maybe it is because of the fact that there are so many stories out there that even if I didn't read it I may write one similar to it. I seriously don't mean to. Also the part about Harry's anger, I seriously don't know how to write his anger well, the most I can explain it is stress and isolation. Those two combined with crappy muggles that hate your gut and reminds you of it constantly would not make Harry a happy person. But I'm trying my best to portray how I believe a normal kid will react, even if he is mad at first I'm trying to make him mellow out later, but not suddenly, as if he has a split personality disorder. But I ain't a pro at how a person will deal with trauma and lose so I'm sorry if I'm over exaggerating his anger.  
  
Beth: Thanks, lol, but I see your point. Yeah maybe if he was to somehow prove her loyalty to keep his secret first, but I guess I didn't write that in and too late now. I could go back and change that, but not at the moment. I wanted Harry to trust Tonks only because she and Sirius knew each other before. At least that's what I thought, I believe that Sirius said something about Tonk's family being to only one that he liked, but then again I might have just gotten that from another fanfiction rather then the actual book. That's the problem with reading so much fanfiction. Lol, oh well, sorry but I'm not exactly pro at writing. Hehe. Sorry about that.  
  
Topsta: Sorry if I made you mad about Harry's views on Dumbledore. I mean he is mad at Dumbledore, but it isn't as if he will go rampaging around the school trying to kick Dumbledore out of the school for his stupidity. I admit he has stupid moments, but so do everyone else in the book. I am not going to have Harry be on an "I'm going to kill you Dumbledore!" type of reaction everytime they meet, but its going to be tense for both of them.  
  
Oklina: Thanks for the correction, I'll make sure to write Zabini and Bulgaria from now on. Could you explain to me how my elemental magic isn't so impressive though? I mean is it the theory behind it, or just the spells that I tried to come up with. Lol, I know the spells suck though.  
  
Sinayah: Thanks for the constructive criticism, lol I wish I could write better. Seriously I do, that would really help my English grade.  
  
Fred: I will take your ideas into consideration, because they are good ideas. However the trunk/ring transfiguration I most probably am not going to write. Harry's current trunk has a built in charm that would transfigure itself into either a trunk or ring, and while it may not seem so, his trunk is incredibly complex magic. Not only does it have a space distortion spell on it, for the increase in size and number of compartments. It has a built in lasting charm for transfiguring, damage and keying to Harry's magical aura. Harry would probably know how to easily transfigure the trunk into a ring and vice versa, but he doesn't know how to set up a lasting charm to automatically change his trunk by touch and a word. Also the inconvenience of him having to pull out his wand and transfiguring the ring into a trunk and vice versa every class isn't so bright. I might also make the chamber of secret a prison place, but not now. Currently the only people that can open the place are Harry and Voldemort. While Voldemort walking into Hogwarts, going all the way to the abandoned bathroom, and taking his prisoners out all of which without being seem doesn't seem very likely, Harry would also be the only other person to be able to open the chamber. And while Dumbledore may be helping Harry train, it would be very unlikely that Dumbledore will ask Harry to open the chamber every single time they round up prisoners. The other problem is the fact that if somehow Voldemort get inside the chambers he would automatically have every prisoner as soldiers again and right inside Hogwarts. What a convenience for Voldemort to not only be in Hogwarts ready to attack, but to also have troops with him. But the probability of Voldemort seriously walking in Hogwarts without a full scale war before he even reaches the stairway is very slim. So, probably not now, but if my story comes to the point where Dumbledore is that desperate, sure that's a great idea, however not in the condition my story is in now. Thanks for the help though. 


	5. Chapter 5

Harry Potter & the Tainting of the Light

Chapter 5

A/N: Hope you like the new chapter. Let's do a vote for pairings, anything but H/Hr and H/G. Those pairings are too common and you can find them anywhere. So just chose the pairings and no slash, I don't write slash. Nothing against slash lovers, but I just don't write them. I might write slash in later chapters, but I'm not too comfortable with it to write it with main characters. So let's do an official voting as of from this chapter. The voting will last for 3 chapters including this one. You must vote with the chapters 5, 6, or 7. Only one vote per SIGNED review, anonymous does not count, sorry. But I personally know that I rigged a previous voting when it was anonymous, so I won't accept anonymous voting.

IMPORTANT NEW CHANGE!!!!!

NOTE!!!!! I have made a change in chapter 4. Instead of Harry having tutoring Saturday and Sunday, he will instead combine it to have it only on Saturday. Figured I needed to give Harry a free day, to actually do what he god damn wants. So Harry will train with Flitwick at 1pm to 4pm, Mcgonagall at 4pm to 7pm, and P.E. (lol) at 7pm to 10pm.

Also note that this will have Ron bashing. I first planned to just make him temporarily jealous and stop, but I find that I like writing Ron bashing. Nothing against Ron lovers, I like reading fics where Ron and Harry are great friends also, but I just want to write Ron bashing. I know, I know, I'm being immature, but it's my story.

(September 4, Saturday)

Harry cursed mentally as he dodged streams of light headed his way. Harry could easily say that today's morning training was different. Drastically so, considering that Harry wasn't actually fighting today.

He was only allowed to dodge the curses headed his way, much like a POW awaiting execution by a firing squad. Moony was looking at some books at the corner of the room, while Moody was training Harry's reflexes.

To Harry's extreme annoyance, every one of Moody's spells were pain curses. Supposedly to punish Harry in case he fails to dodge one of the curses. Harry had been already hit 3 times in the last 5 minutes. It may have been coincidence, but they were all at his right thigh.

Each hit made Harry less mobile, and more susceptible to even more pain curses. After 3 more minute of the training, Moody seemed to get irritated by Harry's dodging skills and did an intricate pattern with his wand. The wand tip glowed purple and it left a trail of purple in the air that looked vaguely like what could have been runes.

After the rune-like light disappeared, the tip of Moody's wand glowed yellow, and Moody once again shot pain curses, the only problem being that he shot 3 triangular pain curses at once for every one curse used. Harry was soon downed easily, and Moody ended the lesson.

After the pain was gone, Harry looked at Moody with wonderment.

"What the hell was that?" Harry asked.

Moody grinned a sadistic grin, "It's something I picked up in the First Rise. I'm guessing only a handful or people can do it, let alone know about it. It takes a lot of power and a lot of knowledge about magic to master it. So... you want to learn it?"

Harry grinned while nodding.

So Moody spent the next hour or so teaching Harry the spell. The spell was a complex combination of many spells that had to be just happened to not interfere with each other.

Most of the individual spells required would have been covered easily in the next few weeks of school, but to combine the different spells, without them interfering with each other, Harry would have been lucky to learn even outside of Hogwarts under normal circumstances.

The first spell Harry learned was the multiplication charm, the spell was usually only applicable to solid objects, but the rune spell, which Harry saw Moody trace in the air, manipulated the spell to only apply to the magical aura of whatever spell that would come out of the wand.

The rune also made the multiplication charm linger at the edge of the wand until the caster dispelled the charm, and for the charm to not shoot out at objects. The rune also linked the multiplication charm together with whatever spell that came out of the wand so that the two different spells wouldn't disrupt the other's potency.

Harry himself read about some runes over the past few days, being intrigued with them since reading about elemental magic, but never came across such a rune that had so many different affects. Harry now loathed not taking the Ancient Runes class at Hogwarts.

Harry vaguely mastered it, but the problem with the linking spell was the more complex the spells that needed to be linked, the harder it was to cast. Harry had more then enough power to cast many number of spells, however Harry would have to practice many times, with different spells, to actually get them to work at full power.

Harry also was incredibly drained after using the spell, as was expected. The multiplication charm kept the potency of each spell. That meant that Harry was actually using 3 times the magical energy for each spell. Like always the magical energy had to come from somewhere, and the only place available was Harry's magical reserve.

The obvious downside to the curse was that the initial casting spell took about 3 seconds. And that was even for a person that was fluent with the spell. Harry himself took about 4 seconds to cast the rune/multiplication spell, and no one in their right mind would allow a person 4 seconds of leeway in a duel or battle.

The good side was that the spell lasted until the caster dispelled it, or the person's magical reserves were drained. So if someone gave Harry enough time to cast the spell, it could be a great advantage in a fight.

Harry stumbled out of the RoR and weerily walked to Gryffindor's Tower. It was a little before 7 right now and Harry wanted to spend his 4 hours before Charm's training wisely. He received 'detention' without a hitch, something that annoyed and also relieved him.

Actually even Hermione believed that Harry deserved it. As she angrily told him after the class ended. Harry was actually happy that people bought it, but was pissed that he had to endure Malfoy taunting. It only infuriated Harry more as he heard Ron's taunting after he heard about what happened in the lesson.

The only thing bearable about the day was hearing Ginny screaming Ron in Gryffindor's Tower. Apparently Ron had continued his blatant smearing campaign, which seemed to have gotten a few more supporters after Harry's 'attack' on a teacher. It seemed that Ginny had, had enough of Ron's ranting and decided to show her brother up again.

(Flashback)

"Ron shut your mouth! I'm sick of hearing you whine! That's all you do, whine, whine, and whine. That's always been your problem Ron! You never worked for anything in your life and always whine when things don't come your way.

You've been doing nothing but whining about your grades, whining about how much more successful your brothers are, whining about how you have no spare change to buy what you want, whining about how you can't get a girlfriend, and whining about how Harry's always better than you!

Well I'll tell you why all that happens Ron! Your grades suck, because you never study! You never prepare for school and you never ever do your homework seriously. At least I saw Harry in the library last year to help and prepare for the DA. But I only saw you sit on your arse and think about Quidditch!

Our brothers are successful because they're ambitious. They know what they want, and they go for it. They study for what they need. Even the twins went to the library to learn about things for their joke shop! What do you want to do Ron? You won't be a professional Quidditch player, seeing as your Keeper skills are mediocre. You won't be an Auror seeing as you only got 7 O.W.L.'s and didn't even get into N.E.W.T.'s prep Transfiguration and Potions.

And the twins offered you a summer job with decent pay at their joke shop! But no! You didn't want to work for your money; you rather waited for the money to all of a sudden rain in your lap! And then you whined and cried about it when you found out that life didn't work that way!

You also can't get a girl because you're horning after any girl with a pretty face. You liked Hermione for the longest time, and over the summer actually developed some courage to finally asked her out and even more surprisingly she said 'yes.' Then you go lusting after someone else, and stew in jealousy when she doesn't even bat an eyelash towards you. Then you sulk after learning that Harry got 18 O.W.L.'s.

With you constantly moaning about the other girl and Harry's grades, it's no wonder your date went lousy. Now you're at Hogwarts and you're lusting after Fleur. Did you really expect Hermione to like you after that?" The whole common room was intently listening to the fiery red head's rant, although they at least had the decency to try and look as if they weren't.

Ginny stormed out of the Tower with a beet red Ron standing in the middle of the Common Room. Ron soon stormed up to the stairs to his dorm room

Harry was surprised about a lot of what Ginny said, and discreetly followed her. She must have heard his foot steps or something because she caught him following her at a hallway on the 4th floor.

"What Harry?" Ginny sounded tired.

"Is that why he was jealous, I thought it was only because of Fleur." Harry said.

Ginny sighed. "No Harry, he's always been jealous of you. Always complained about how he didn't have anything and you got so much. Before he did it rarely and usually without spite, it was more like self pity. But over the summer it got really bad. He constantly moaned about your **privileges** and whatnot. I once even came across his room, where he was punching some bag with your face in it."

Harry walked up to Ginny and hugged her. "Sorry I made your relationship with Ron so horrible."

Ginny pulled back and gave Harry a feeble smile. "Don't blame yourself Harry. I'm mad at Ron not just because of you. He **still** complains on and on about me and Dean. **Honestly**!"

Harry smiled at her exasperation.

Ginny looked at Harry. "Guess what you really wanted to know was about Ron and Hermione, huh?"

Harry blushed and gave a nod.

"Don't worry, if my friends had a secret get-together without me knowing, I would be pretty outraged. Well, one morning at the Burrow Ron comes screaming down the stairs. He seemed really happy for some reason, which was a welcome relief compared to his moaning and groaning all summer. Even the twins got fed up with him and tried to distract him. It was first with a job and when he refused then with pranks.

It was really nice of them if you ask me, they even asked me for a job and I of course accepted. Wow, you can't imagine how successful they are right now, their shops still a bit slow, but they created a owl catalog that's off the chart! It's already raked in about 50 orders after the first week!" Ginny blushed.

"Well I'm going off topic now. Anyways, Ron was nearly shouting about how Hermione was coming over for the summer. He was really excited and seemed like Christmas came early. Well when Hermione came, he was in what he considered his best clothing. All in orange I might add., **Yuk**.

Surprising thing was that he acted all gentlemanly and took her stuff up to my room, Hermione was really shocked, and so was the rest of the family. Well after she settled in, they talked often over the summer. They talked more with each other then with all of the family combined. It was really cute how over the dinner table he started flirting with her.

The twins started teasing but Ron was surprisingly mature enough to not get offended. Well after a week of courting he got the courage to ask her out. She said yes and the date was set for 3 days later, on a Saturday.

Well on Thursday Tonks came threw the fireplace to talk to dad. She met us on the way and spoke to us about you. Well Hermione and I were the most curious, Ron seemed to vaguely care. He wanted to find out more about your O.W.L.'s then anything. Mum's still mad at the score Ron got; even the Twins got 9 O.W.L.'s.

But that was only because a lot of the Charms, Potions, and Transfiguration applied to something they did with pranks. I never knew how smart they were in their area of expertise.

Well Tonks said how she was training you over the summer with Moody and Moony. She told Ron about how many O.W.L.'s you got. I swear I never saw a person get more red. At the time I didn't know Ron was infatuated with her. Actually it was a week after when I found out, and it was by accident. Tonks talked with dad and left quickly. That's when Ron's bad mood started all over again.

Well Ron and Hermione had a date and I don't know much about. Hermione merely came back slamming the door behind her. She gave vague reference about how Ron was complaining all the time about you and something about Quidditch.

Well after Hermione's bad mood ended, which was about a week, I finally started talking more with her. She didn't talk about the date but even the twins could tell it was Ron's fault. Well I went up to Ron's room to start finding out what happened from him when I heard his mutterings.

He was in his room obviously talking to himself. I overheard how Ron hated you for getting special training. How you got better grades then him. How you got everything and he gets nothing. How you got to hang out with Tonks. It was at that point I figured out that Ron was mooning over Tonks. It would have been really funny to see my older brother acting like a 5 year old with an off set crushes if the situation wasn't so morbid.

I never confronted him about what I heard till just now. And even then I was vague about Tonks, didn't want to hurt Hermione's feelings even more then it already is." Ginny said.

Harry gave Ginny's shoulders a brief squeeze of assurance. "Thanks Ginny, for telling me and confronting Ron. So... how **are** things going between you and Dean?" Harry suggested lightly.

Ginny knew he was trying to change subjects and was grateful. "Well..." Ginny giggled. "He's a really good kisser. A romantic person... Even if it is hard to believe. And you won't believe the snogging-."

"Okay, okay! Jeesh, didn't have to go that far. I'm still his room mate you know." Harry exclaimed dramatically to Ginny's giggling.

(End of Flashback)

Harry sniggered at how Ron made a jackass out of himself. He never realized how much Ginny grew up. She went from a person with a childish crush to a really mature, yet temperamental, person. Harry was really grateful to have such a valuable friend.

Harry rarely spent time with friend and rarely had fun anymore. He spent times reading instead of having any fun. He already read 5 books and it was only the 4th day of school! Harry couldn't even imagine Hermione being that much of a bookworm.

Hermione, that left Harry wondering. He hadn't really talked to her since the second day of school. Of course there were the occasional 'hello's here and there, but the bond between her, Ron, and him was shattered.

Harry didn't doubt that his friendship with Ron was breakable, even if it had been strong. 4th year proved that it was fallible. Harry didn't hate Ron for being jealous, he was human after all. Harry himself was jealous of Ron, just not for the same reasons. However, Harry was annoyed and pretty angry at how Ron expressed his jealousy against him so bitterly and openly.

Even with his new confliction with Ron, he never expected it to strain his friendship with Hermione so deeply. He always thought that no matter what, his friendship with Hermione would stay as strong as it did, no matter the strains against it. But maybe that was Harry's childish notions reasoning his beliefs, not the cold hearted truth that change was the self-conflicting inevitability that was bound to stay constant.

Harry didn't blame Hermione at all; it was he that pushed her away this whole time. It might have been on purpose, it might have not. But the truth remains that, he did push her away.

Harry sighed at how fucked up the year had been going so far. He needed something to help him relax, not just to help him with his stress by channeling it to aggression, but just some way to help take the load off his mind. Maybe he could go for a swim... in late fall, early winter?

No, that wasn't going to work; of course freezing to death might help take the load off his shoulders, but Harry truly didn't think that was the best solution. Maybe he could take a potion to relieve stress.

Harry didn't know much about the subject, but with all the potions that were out there, there was bound to be something to help relieve the tension in his head.

'_What do normal people do to help with stress? Besides running and fighting for their lives that is. Drinking could help me... but no the last thing I need is to consume alcohol. I can't give a shit about the liver damage, god knows that with Voldemort and his Death Eaters out there, alcohol wouldn't be what actually kills me. That'll be a laugh, I can just imagine the headlines now "**Boy-who-just-won't-die, finally dies by over drinking!"**_

_Now the effects of alcohol might kill me however. The last thing I need is for my untested and entirely unproven Occulemency Skills to become knowingly obsolete. At least according to the Occulemency Book, even the tiniest bit of alcohol destroys a person's control over their mind, so that would make their occulemency skills to become less effective.'_

Harry sighed and looked out at the Quidditch Field. It was empty and the condition was perfect for flying. However, the other Quidditch players would also know that, and they would soon go to the pitch to fly, leaving Harry to be kicked off the field.

Harry truly missed flying, but Harry could honestly say that he didn't miss Quidditch. It was flying that was Harry's true passion; Quidditch merely gave Harry an excuse to fly.

It seemed that Ron became Quidditch Captain. He rubbed it in Harry's face. But he shut up in the end.

(Flashback)

Ron walked into the Common Room and talked to a 7th year Harry never saw before. It was one of the exchange students, and it seemed that only the new kids really had conversations with Ron.

The exchange students were new to the environment, and most didn't have set friends and set alliances within the school. They didn't understand the rivalry, even after being told of it from their fellow classmates. They were in Hogwarts, but in reality they weren't truly of Hogwarts. They saw the prejudice, the pride of house, the fake doors, and the trap staircases, but they didn't truly understand the place and didn't really fit in.

"Yup! I'm Quidditch Captain now!" Ron stuck out his chest in an overly exaggerated manner. He was also wearing his Prefects badge, which was next to his Captain's badge. Most of the house rolled their eyes at the Ron's obvious boastings. Some of the younger kids gave half-hearted congrats.

"Thank you, thank you. I promise to lead Gryffindor's to victory this year. That reminds me, Quidditch signup for seeker, chasers, and beaters. We will retry those positions and see who makes the positions, after all it's only fair to give the rest of the house a shot. It is for the good of the Gryffindor house." Ron spoke with an almost Percy-like pompousness.

Harry rolled his eyes at Ron's egotistic appearance. Harry was extremely tempted to remind Ron that it would only be 'fair' for the Keeper position to be retried also. However at the moment Harry was doing his already stockpiling homework, so he let it be. As Harry suggested, none of the teachers let Harry off easy on the assignments.

Harry didn't exactly find the lessons of great importance, at least not for a soldier's life. But Harry had to grudgingly admit, a lot of the lessons would help Harry not on the battlefield but to live a normal magical life.

He was learning spells to ward off vampires and lethafolds, potions to get rid of ghouls and wandering spirits, spells that would help protect his house not from wizarding terrorists but from unwanted annoying pests. Spells to deal with muggles without harming them, spells to protect yourself without having to kill those that didn't truly mean you harm.

Harry never saw the use of it before, but having the all too clear notion of almost being out of Hogwarts and in to the real world made Harry wise up to the importance of his lessons.

The Healing Art's homework was also intriguing. The spells were mostly mediocre at the moment, but when Harry took a sneak peak to the later chapters within the book, Harry could barely contain his glee. They were obviously advanced, and some of the spells even taught how to fix lethal organ damages.

Harry was about to put the finishing thesis for his Potion's Essay when he was rudely interrupted. Ron stepped to the left of his chair and spoke to him.

"So Potter, are you jealous of my appointment of Quidditch Captain? Heard you also quit Quidditch, is it because you're so mad that **I'm** the one to be Captain?" Ron taunted.

Harry's hand twitched. He controlled his temper however. It wouldn't be good to be drawn into Ron's taunting.

"Why would I be jealous Weasley? I denied the Captain's position, so you got it. Actually it's funny, the only reason you became Captain is the fact that I refused, meaning that the badge is nothing more then a hand-me-down. Isn't that what you hate the most Weasley, having things **handed** down to you?

Of course why would you be mad, it's not like you got mad when you received the Prefect's badge instead of me. You always received things after someone else had it." Harry taunted as he finished his essay.

"Liar! I received the prefect's position first! I was with you most of the summer, and I never saw you denying it! See you are jealous, you can't handle the fact that I'm Prefect and Captain!" Ron said angrily.

"Really? Is that so, what I heard from Dumbledore's own mouth was different." Harry said.

"Dumbledore's pet." Ron muttered.

"Now who's jealous? As I was saying, the only reason I didn't become prefect was the fact that it wouldn't be safe to give me a reason to wander the halls of Hogwarts at night. And if you don't believe me, ask Professor McGonagall. After all she decides the Prefects and Captain of Gryffindor.

It was only the Headmaster's last minute interference that I didn't become Prefect. I also turned down the Quidditch Captainship and my Seeker position, because I, unlike you, realize that life is more then just a game. I don't have time to waste my time on such trivial matter such as Qudditch. In case your brain couldn't comprehend, we are in a war now Weasley. Games and all were nice when we were still children, but now it's time to grow up." Harry said without looking at Ron. He was proof reading his essay and with a satisfied smirk placed his essay within his bag.

"And if you were so 'fair' as you put it, then you would also hold Keeper position. Seeing as you suck, and 'for the good of Gryffindor house,' we should find someone else."

(End of Flashback)

It seemed that Ron did confirm what Harry said with McGonagall. Harry wasn't sure of course, but Ron's sudden silence gave him suspicion to believe it so.

Ginny ended up being seeker at the retrial. Ron didn't hold positions for Keeper, as Harry amusingly noted. From the mutterings held throughout the house, Harry presumed that they noticed also. Harry didn't see them practice, but from what Ginny said, they will need a lot of work this year. It seemed that even though Ron loved Quidditch and knew a lot of strategies, Ron had no idea how to lead a team.

It didn't help that the majority of the team disliked Ron for being just an arse at the moment. So Harry didn't know if Ron was just a horrible leader, or if the team was just being hard on purpose.

'Maybe both.' Harry thought.

In the end Harry couldn't think of how to relieve his stress. He just chose to go for a walk around Hogwarts. Harry ended up finding himself back in the RoR, this time without Moody and Moony. Harry didn't know what he wanted the room to be so he was surprised to find it turn into a place he only saw on the cover of some exquisite hotels and vacation spots.

The place was filled with steam, and the ceiling was enchanted to give the feeling of open sky. The walls were bamboo and had lots of plants on the side. The atmosphere of the room although steamy, wasn't stuffy. It was a complete outdoor hot spring without it actually being outdoors.

Even though he did not deliberately ask the room to suit his needs, it must have automatically sensed his need for a stress reliever, and supposedly a few hours at a hot spring did wonders for a person. Harry wished for swimming trunks and saw to his right a black swimming trunk appear.

Harry changed into the trunks and stepped into the warm water bordering on hot. Harry felt relaxed by the atmosphere of the place. He just floated for god knows how long, enjoying the feel of the hot water against his body.

Harry walked into the Great Hall. It was late into the meal so most of the food was already gone. That was okay for Harry though, he wasn't particularly hungry today, he just needed something to occupy the stomach. Harry sat down next to Hermione and started eating breakfast.

The atmosphere, Harry noted, seemed a bit sullen. It was the mornings, so Harry didn't truly expect people to be outright chipper, but the mood of the Great Hall was downright depressing.

Harry tapped Hermione on the shoulder, who seemed to literally jump from the shock. Harry raised an eyebrow at her behavior, and Hermione merely had the decency to blush.

"Um... so what's the reason for the depressing atmosphere?" Harry asked.

"Oh... it's because of... here-." Hermione handed Harry a newspaper.

****

**Law of Aggression**

Acting-Minister Bones along with the Heads of the Ministry have validated a new petition.

_I, Acting Minister Bones, hereby make the following petition legal_

Aurors and Hit Wizard are hereby allowed to use the Unforgivables in dire situation. Acknowledge the fact, all use of the Unforgivables will be checked by officials to validate the use of such spells was only in appropriate situations. Also the use of Dark Arts are legal in the field for Aurors in the act of duty, however blatant over abuse of such privilege will call for an investigation and probable imprisonment.

Any use of the Unforgivable by the public shall be sentenced a lifetime of imprisonment, unless previously given leeway by the Head of the Auror Division and The Minister of Magic.

The use of the Dark Arts has been termed legal only in the act of self defense, teaching purpose, legal duel, or by those given special permission. In the act of self defense the use of the Dark Arts will be thoroughly questioned, unorthodox methods if needed, to prove the use of the spell was in appropriate situations. For teaching purpose each spell under the label of Dark Arts must be brought forth to the Headmaster or mistress of the school who in turn would be given permission by the School Governors and Minister of Magic. Also those given the special permission will have to have their background thoroughly checked and every dark arts used will be brought into question afterwards.

_Amelia Bones_, Acting-Minister of Magic.

"Isn't it awful?" Hermione said.

"If you want my opinion, no it isn't awful. The law in itself is rickety at best, but the intention behind it I can understand. I just worry about how mature the public will act on this accord." Harry mumbled.

"How can you say that? The Minister just gave the Aurors a license to kill!" Hermione nearly shouted.

"You really think that we should be sending stunner and tickling charms against people that are aiming to kill you? We already seen how useful those petiful spells worked against real enemies in the heat of battle Hermione. It's time to take a stand, time to show those filthy Death Eaters that if they want to kill others they'll have to risk losing their own lives. It's already been proven when we keep imprisoning the bastards; they escape time and time again." Harry said to Hermione.

"How are we better then them when we're using the same methods they are. We are stooping to the Death Eaters level." Hermione countered.

"And you think by killing we're as bad as them, but when we sent the Death Eaters to Azkaban, a place worst then death, we are all of a sudden saints that were being so merciful? I personally think they are blessed to be given death, but it's the only sure way to make sure they don't kill again." Harry said.

Hermione looked mortified by Harry's logic.

"Hermione, is it better to kill one person, than risk that person killing 10 to hundreds of others? You can't really expect that if we are to win this war, we will go at it without killing the other side. Do you really think we can imprison Voldemort and hope that he never escapes to terrorize the world? No, we will have to kill him somehow. War isn't won by morals alone; it's won by toil and sacrifices. It sucks, I understand. But we can't hope to win with false hope and tickling charms." Harry stated firmly.

Hermione shook her head.

"How do you propose we fight this war? Let hundreds on our side die trying to stun the others? Let the people try and negotiate to the others while they're being slaughtered?" Harry asked. "Hermione do you truly believe that just because a spell kills or causes brain damage it's dark?"

"Of course it is dark!" Hermione said.

"So then we shouldn't even be using spells at all? Didn't you know that McGonagall was almost killed last year from overdose of stunners, if that is so then stunners should be dark arts. Did you also know that an overdose of tickling charm can severely damage your nervous system. Did you know that a leg locker spell used to powerful will forever damage the bones and muscles? How about this, did you know the true history of the killing curse, the cruciatus curse, and the imperious curse?"

Hermione shook her head, not truly wanting to hear what Harry was going to say.

The cruciatus curse's age is not known, but it was founded for medical use in the past. It was found the people near dying where heart related problems were concerned could be brought back to life by the cruciatus curse. Back then they didn't know why, but now with muggle science, the human body's function is better known.

A person when under the cruciatus curse, accelerates their heart pumping. A most useful thing to increase the life of a dying person for a few minutes or so.

The killing curse was the most interesting, actually. The origin of the curse was in the pagan times. The curse was to give a swift and painless death to people that were terminally ill. They did it so that the person under a sickness that was a hopeless cause wouldn't have to live dying in agony.

So people you learn the true origin of the most horrid and unforgivable, Unforgivables. So with all I just told you, is it the curse that is Dark, or the intention behind it that is Dark?"

Hermione didn't know it, but they had brought the attention of most of the Gryffindor Table. So she was surprised when Harry addressed the rest of the table in his analysis.

"What about the Patronus curse?" Hermione stated firmly.

"Did you know a Patronus curse was so shocking to a muggle that it brought the man a heart attack?" Harry asked.

"There must be another way." Hermione stated firmly.

"There would be, if we were more powerful. If the situation was different, yes there would be many different ways to fight this war. However, that isn't the case. The case is, we are the ones with the family that is needed to be protected, we are the ones that have houses, we are the ones that need to try and protect the muggles, and we are the ones that are out in the open waiting to be attacked. They have the biggest advantage in any fight because they have the element of surprise and choice."

"Maybe, but how can we justifying killing another person?" Hermione said with resolve.

"You make this sound as if it is a battle between good and evil." Harry shook his head at Hermione's naiveness.

"It is!" Hermione and a few others agreed.

"Oh? Who's the good and who's the evil?" Harry asked dryly.

"You-Know-Who's evil and we're the good!" Hermione said with resolve.

"Hermione... You're the most brilliant witch I know-," Hermione beamed, but then frowned at Harry's continuation, "-and yet every once in a while that you are in fact human." Harry shook his head sadly. "Who are the 'we' in your speech Hermione? Is it the ministry, the public, the children at this school, Dumbledore?" Harry asked. "How are the ministries 'good' when they promote segregation and discrimination against other beings?

How is the ministry 'good' when any beings that aren't human are being labeled beasts? How are the public 'good,' when Hagrid is constantly mocked for being half-giant by the public? When in truth he's one of the most loyal friends I know.

How are the public and the ministry 'good' when Madam Maxine is kicked out of her school once the public and the French Ministry found out that she was part-giant? Even after she became an envoy to the giants, trying to secure their loyalty to the ministry that under appreciates her. Even after she risked life and death with Hagrid, they are still being looked down upon by the public.

The children at this school? Don't make me laugh, they back stab and gossip about each other every second. You can hardly find true friends here; everyone turns on you at the fabrication of stories, rumors, and lies. Everyone here is prejudice to some extent. You may not realize it, but Dean-," Harry looked towards an attentive Dean, "-you see banshees and vampires as evil, right?" Dean nodded. "Why? Is it because they're different, is it because the biased and ill writings made of them by prejudice wizards and witches? Is it because of the screams and drinking of blood by a few that the majority should be labeled evil?" Dean had a thoughtful look.

"If killing is what makes a person evil, then we are all evil. Everyone here has killed." The table looked on disbelieving. "Who here hasn't killed an insect, a flubberworm, a frog, an imp, a snail? Hermione, your parents, are they vegetarians?" Hermione shook her head.

"Then your parents and anyone that eats meat are living off the death of other creatures. Even herbivores kill plants to survive. So you in fact living off the death of other animals, so how does that make you any better? Is the person who has to kill the animal the only one to sin because I don't see anyone valiantly protesting the public of eating animals?" Harry said. "So what is the difference between humans and vampires? They both need to misfortune of others to survive."

"But that's different. There just animals, we're humans." A kid down the row said.

"What makes them different? How is a vampire an animal? What makes them of worth less then us?

That is what makes me laugh, actually. Humans believe that they are above other 'creatures,' we don't bat an eyelash over the death of other being, when a lot of the time we are in fact the ones that kill them, yet when one of our own are killed we throw a tantrum. We kill other beings and make it seem like we are the victims when they retaliate.

Do you truly believe a centaur, a mermaid and man, a veela, or etc. do not care if they are killed. Do you think animals like pain and death? So you see this isn't a battle between good and evil."

"But we oppose the side that promotes segregation and discrimination against the muggles and muggle borns." Hermione stated.

"And all those that support the ministry also support the very faction that supports the segregation and discrimination of all non-humans. How is that better?

Only children with naïve and incredible stupidity should believe that. This is a battle between two factions with different ideals. Now don't think I'm lecturing you on how you are bad and I'm a good guy. No, I also find it hard to look differently upon other beings.

I try not to, but I am only a mortal being with a lot of faults. I too discriminate against others, why take the Slytherins for example, I saw them as low life snakes that are evil for the past 5 years. Discrimination isn't only found between magical people and different beings. It is found wherever there are difference and blind intolerance against those differences." Harry smiled inwardly at the thoughtful looks on the faces of the students.

A tiny, yet powerful wizard was explaining to an average height, yet also powerful wizard about the significance of the day's lesson, while a stunningly beautiful woman was sitting to the side of the room watching the lesson with unhidden interest.

"Let's start off this lesson head first, shall we? It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the road ahead of you will be a bumpy one, so I will teach you everything I can that even briefly will help you in battle. I will also teach you many things to protect yourself even away from battle. Now just by covering those specifics alone will cover a gigantic amount of material.

Do not think that only Patronus charms and Stunners will help you in battle Mr. Potter. It is time for you to start thinking outside the box. Which do you think will be more effective to send a mild blasting curse or an overpowered confidence charm at a person?" Flitwick asked.

Harry raised his eyebrows, "The blasting charm of course."

"Really?" Flitwick asked smugly, "Why?"

"Because the blasting curse throws a person backwards..." Harry said slowly, questioning the man's sanity.

"Tell me Mr. Potter, you know that the confidence charm can not be blocked and that the blasting curse can, so the chances of you hitting the opponent is much higher is it not?"

Harry nodded wondering where this was going.

"Now also think about the fact that because the confidence charm is readily known by everyone that can possibly duel, also imagine the expectancy of such a spell in a duel. Do you think that out of even their wildest imagination a normal dueler would expect such a spell?" Flitwick explained.

Harry said confused, "Just because a spell isn't expected doesn't mean that it will be effective."

"Yes Mr. Potter, but think about this, while a blasting charm can be blocked, a confidence charm has to be dodged, having a person throw him or herself off his previous stable position, or the person may just get hit with the spell." Flitwick reasoned.

"What would be the point of hitting your opponent with the confidence charm, even if it is overly powered? They'll just be less fearful of you throughout the whole duel." Harry asked.

"Mr. Potter, you understand that fear helps a person reason, do you not? I mean the fear of death obviously causes a person to be more cautious."

Harry nodded.

"Now the obvious aspects of the confidence charm is to make a person lose their fears and that would make them-"

"-less cautious, less wary of an opponent, making them cocky enough to make stupid mistakes..." Harry said with realization dawning on him.

"Exactly Mr. Potter!" Flitwick was beaming.

Harry looked at Flitwick, "Wouldn't that also have a downside, I mean that could also make them more dangerous. I remember Neville, all he needs is a little confidence and he turns from an incompetent person to a fearsome dueler."

"Of course Mr. Potter, a bit of confidence does a load of wonders, however you remembered the cheering charm taught in your 3rd year?"

Harry nodded.

"Well I vaguely remember a student overpowering their charm to not just make a person happy, but to make to person insanely cheery. So a normal confidence charm might be good, but as they say too much of a good thing is a bad thing. All you would need is to put more power behind the spell then usual."

Harry once again nodded.

"Do you now understand thinking outside the box? Most of my time as a dueling champion was used in surprising my opponents by unexpected moves that dumbfounded the challengers. Needless to say I built a reputation of being the most random dueler ever. Now to become great at charms and to use them in battle, you just need a creative mind. Now in your duel with Professor Snape, I've seen the potential of your creativity, yet it just needs the right push to bring it out..."

The rest of the lesson was spent with Flitwick giving more ideas on how to use seemingly useless spells to Harry's advantage. Harry was incredibly glad that he took Flitwick's offer by the end of the lesson. He let Harry leave an hour ahead of the normal time, saying that enough was covered for the day.

"Do come by anytime Mr. Potter if you have any questions." Flitwick said to the student that was about to leave.

Harry stopped as if a brick dropped on his head, "Actually I do have a question..."

"Well ask away Mr. Potter." Flitwick said expectantly.

Flitwick was incredibly happy that a student pursuing a greater need to understand Charms. Flitwick had originally taken to teaching wanting to see the unbridle hunger for knowledge in students. The same that he had when he was a child, however it was sad for him to see that rarely people went out the required lessons. Rarely did Flitwick see people go over the expectation level for the class. He only saw it amongst his Ravenclaws, and rarely anyone from the other houses.

But even then, the students didn't seem to want to ask Flitwick. They wanted to go to books for the answer to their questions. And while Flitwick respected and admired their independence, he truly wished to be able to help the students personally.

"I have recently learned the 'cloning spell'-," Here Fleur looked shocked while Flitwick looked mildly surprised but was grinning, "-however I do not seem to get the full potential of the spell. I have seen a person bring about 10 clones and while I have done extensive research on the structuring of the spell, I can only get 2 tops. Can you explain what I need to create more?"

Flitwick's smile widened. "Well Mr. Potter the problem, I believe that you are having, is a common one that even I have faced. How much power are you throwing into spell?"

"I throw everything I have into the spell, I've already thought about the power expectancy of the spell, yet it seems that I can only create two." Harry said.

"Let me see your cloning charm then."

Harry cast it bringing about the usual 2 clones.

"Did you throw everything you had into the spell?"

Harry nodded.

"Hmm... Ah ha! I see the problem, Mr. Potter, while you are indeed putting an incredible amount of power behind the clones; you are putting the power behind the wrong aspect of the spell. You are putting the power behind the clones to make the stability of the clones strong, so your clones will last for an incredibly long time, taking a lot of abuse and toil.

This, in actuality, is good, but if you want more in number you have to put the power of you magic behind the actual number of the conjuring of the clones, not the stability of the clones you want. Now there is also a problem with number cloning, they may have the same physical aspects of you; but they will be more damage prone and will disappear faster." Flitwick began explaining to Harry how to manipulate the magic just as he needed it.

"So you see Mr. Potter, you are putting more power behind the Charms part of the spell, but in reality you need to put more power behind the Transfiguration part. I'm sure Professor McGonagall will teach you more about it next lesson."

"Do you understand it Mr. Potter?" Harry nodded at Flitwick's questioning. "Good now why don't you try the spell again."

Harry did and there appeared 38 Harry's not including himself standing before him.

Flitwick was clapping wildly. "Good good Mr. Potter! Now you understand how to do the spell. But do understand number isn't always everything, you should balance numbers with their stability, do not stretch the number's so largely that a single tickling spell will make them disappear. I myself can create 36 clones and I believe Headmaster Dumbledore can bring about 46 or was that 47 clones? But I can bring about 15 clones and still have them fight, can your clones fight also?"

Harry shrugged, not truly knowing the answer. Flitwick told him to command the clones to fight each other. Harry did so and they disappeared or went down after one hit. Harry shook his head and made them disappear. He then cut his number down by half. The clones came out with a lot of bruises in the end, but they were all sturdy and still there. He then dispelled them again.

"Great job Mr. Potter. Do remember that the less your number, the more you can make them stable. Then shall we have a match between my clones and yours Mr. Potter?" Flitwick was grinning as if he had a secret that he was hiding.

"Professor Flitwick, I don't mean to be rude, but your clones would hardly be a match between my clones, you have already admitted that my clones have a number superiority over your and mine has size superiority over yours."

Flitwick just grinned, "You must not understand the full aspect of the cloning spell. You are limited by the physical aspects of the spell and don't think about the magical aspect of the spell."

Harry's eyes widened at what Flitwick was indicating. Harry on the inside also smirked at the man's sneakiness. Harry's suspicion of what Flitwick was thinking was also confirmed by his added wand movement as he created the clones. Flitwick did indeed bring about 15 clones like he said, but Harry knew that they all had magic inside of them.

Harry created 19 clones, giving each of the clones an even amount of his magic. He brought them about when Flitwick wasn't looking, so Harry guessed that he didn't know that Harry could put magic in his clones.

Harry guessed that they would be as strong magically as first years, but that didn't matter. Even if they were weak, all they needed to know were stunners and shield charms. The spells individually didn't have to be strong, but Harry fully intended to make this battle worthwhile.

Fleur was at the side and she banished all the tables to the far end of the room wanting to see this battle.

Harry called over to Flitwick, "Professor why don't we make this interesting and have obstacles?"

Flitwick grinned and nodded at Fleur. She conjured many things between Harry and Flitwick. There were crude tables, chairs, and books. Harry grinned at how this mock battle would turn out.

"On the count of three then?" Harry asked. Flitwick nodded.

"One." Harry grinned.

"Two." Flitwick was whistling.

"Three!" Flitwick's clones as expected shot stunners at Harry's clones.

Harry shouted at his clones to throw over tables to cover themselves. They did so and the stunners were blocked by the table leaving scorching marks. Harry told them to return fire with stunners. Flitwick in sheer surprise managed to have half his clones knocked out.

Flitwick told his clones to follow Harry's move and told them to take cover behind upturned tables. Harry didn't want them to have time to revive their companions so he told them to burn the wooden tables. They cast incendio at the tables, and while individually their spells wouldn't do much, they cast it together at the tables, burning half of it to the ground.

Flitwick's clones sent banished the tables at the left side of Harry's clones. Harry's clones found themselves being pushed towards the wall with the table crushing them. Harry told the right side of his clones to shoot Flitwick's clones with water.

The 10 to 12 clones arched the water and hit all of Flitwick's clones. That threw their concentration releasing the 8 clones behind the desk. They scrambled back to the front with the tables.

They laid the tables in front of them to act as a shield once again, but Harry ordered them to cast a sticky charm on it. It wasn't permanent, but it would prevent another banishing trick by Flitwick.

By that time Flitwick's clones got their bearings again and to Harry's annoyance revived their companions. They were still wet however as was the ground around them, and even if his clones were weak in power, they had number superiority. Harry shouted at the clones to shoot a relatively weak electricity spell at Flitwick's clones.

It wasn't anywhere near the power of Harry's lightning spell, but with the water conducting it, the spell would have to do. Flitwick's clones got electrocuted as they all were standing in the water. Harry cut off half his clones from shooting their spell and told them to advance onto Flitwick's clones, which were still being electrocuted.

The 9 clones advanced closer to Flitwick's group and Harry told them to shoot them with stunners, hoping that their close range would increase their accuracy. However Harry dearly paid for his mistake in sending his clones in close. He thought that Flitwick's clones would be incapacitated and that they would have an easy time stunning them.

However Harry's clones weren't powerful enough to immobilize Flitwick's clones completely with the electricity, as Harry did with Kingsleys at Grimmaulds Place. Flitwick's clones shot stunners at Harry's advancing 9 clones. All 9 were stunned, while Harry immediately told the others to stop their spell.

Flitwick told his clones to send a fire curse like Harry did before. The tables that were providing protection to Harry were quickly destroyed. Harry countered by telling his 10 clones to banish the books and chairs that lined to floor at Flitwick's clones. 8 of Flitwick's clones go hit, but the other 7 dodged the attack.

Harry pressed his advantage by telling them to fire stunners at those still standing. The clones hit 5 clones, leaving 2 standing with 8 temporarily on the floor. Flitwick's clones did something that Harry next would never have expected. They cast summoning charms at Harry's clones.

Harry's clones didn't get summoned, but it was their boots that did. Currently Harry's clones were lined up in two rows of five, and the front 5 with their boots being summoned found thrown backwards with their feet forward. They toppled onto the 5 behind them and all 10 found themselves on the ground.

Before Harry's clones got up, Flitwick's clones, the remaining 10, were already on them and shot stunners at each at point blank range.

Fleur clapped at the mock duel and then made the conjured desk, chairs, and books disappear.

Harry dispelled his clones and congratulated Flitwick on his battle. They both traded what went wrong, and both of their downfalls were overconfidence. Flitwick's was when he believed that he was the only one that could do magic, and Harry's when he thought Flitwick's clones were immobile. That and when Harry lined the clones up instead of having them spread apart.

Flitwick smiled at Harry and told Harry that having more of these mock-duels with clones would be a great way to increase strategy and decision making on a real battlefield. Flitwick said that they would be having a mock duel every upcoming lesson, to put to test the magic that Harry knew and Harry's strategy making.

Harry nodded at Flitwick's idea, and exited the class. Harry trudged slowly to his next lesson. He waved and chatted with a couple of kids that he knew when he crossed paths with them on the hallways. They sympathized with Harry and told him good luck. Harry walked towards Professor McGonagall's classroom once again and knocked at the entrance.

Harry received the okay to enter so he opened the door. Harry entered the room containing one overly old woman that radiated authority and a stocky and powerful looking young man. Harry nodded slightly at Krum and looked expectantly at Professor McGonagall.

"Well Mr. Potter, I am to help your progress in the art of transfiguration. I have reluctantly accepted you with Professor Krum's persuasion, so do not make me regret having done so." Professor McGonagall said stiffly.

Harry sat down in one of the chairs used for class. He sat down and waited patiently for the teacher to continue.

"Now what I will teach you, will NOT be used as parlor tricks to amuse yourself or your friends. I will teach you complex transfiguration that would be barely introduced within these walls for school. I am reluctant to say that I will teach you transfiguration most useful in battle.

I will teach you how to make warriors in battle that would think for themselves, yet would also be loyal to you. I will teach you how to turn a battle against an army in your favor. I will also teach you... the art of being an animagus. I trust that you have the maturity to not flaunt your animagus form, WHEN you complete it. We will be teaching you to turn into your animagus form an hour every lesson, while for the rest we will cover magic that would help in battle.

Now I know that you know some of these, seeing as you battle with Professor Snape has reached my ears." McGonagall said as if the whole battle was disgraceful.

"Now we will start by increasing the 'knowledge' you can saw of the objects that you conjure or transfigure. You see they will already follow your orders, but you can basically plant reaction in them for some situations. Here I'll show you." McGonagall transfigured a table into a wooden lion.

"Now I want you to fire a stunner at it." Harry did so, but the lion dodged the spell.

"What I did was automatically make it so that the lion to make sure to do everything it can to not be destroyed. I have given it a self awareness of its existence, to fear for its own destruction. I have also made it so that it would be protective of me from threats; try firing a stunner at me." Harry did so albeit a bit reluctantly.

The lion jumped in the way of the curse and had a scorch mark on its surface.

"So you can put a level of importance for each reaction, while it may look out for itself, the lion will no matter what try to defend me. Of course it isn't the most useful reaction in a battle. Imagine if I brought about 10 of the same lion and someone tried to fire a stunner at me. Than all 10 of my lions tries to jump in front of it. No, that would be incredibly stupid.

You can also animate them to have more intelligence; to make it so that the lions realize how many would need to defend you and which of the lions are near enough to actually be able to defend you."

Harry was confused, "How would you be able to make them to do all that?"

"Mr. Potter, if you were in a situation where you see a friend about to be hurt, you have to decide if you can help the person or not. Analize the situation, to see what the best way to help that person would be?"

Harry nodded.

"Then you would just implant that very part of your mind into the object. So basically the object would only be as smart as you would be. It would react exactly as how you would react if in the same situation. Of course you can't plant your entire brain's reactions within the object's head. That takes too much magic and too long of a process to be efficient. However you can implant parts of you brain.

You can make the object be protective of you, or want to protect others, single out enemies and make them targets for the object. Transfiguration is limitless.

"Now actually animation spells are quite simple in the most basic form, but as you want the object more animated, it becomes more complex. Animating animals to act like the animal that you animated is quite simple as you do not know the actual thoughts of the animal. You just know the sounds that it make, the basic way their body is structured, and briefly what the animal acts like."

Harry was listening intently, everyone of his battle animals needed to be given a verbal order, but in Dumbledore and Voldemort's battle, Dumbledore's animals and objects needed no words to be said. It merely did as the caster wanted.

"Now all you need..."

(Skip through this shit)

The rest of the lesson was interesting but Harry was more interested about the animagus lesson that he was going to have. He wondered what his animal would be.

"Now animagus training itself isn't as hard as people make it out to be. Of course it is hard, but the level of difficulty is very over exaggerated. Do you remember how many people are registered animagus'?" Mcgonagall asked, even Krum seemed to perk up at this part of the lesson.

"Around 10 to 15 I believe." Harry said.

"Close enough, do you also happen to know the estimate of people actually being an animagus in Great Britain alone?" McGonagall asked.

Harry shook his head.

"It is estimated that around 300 wizard and witches are unregistered animagi, give or take a few. Now what does that tell you?" McGonagall asked.

"That wherever is the replacement for Azkaban better have more cells for them." Harry said bringing a chuckle from Krum.

McGonagall was not amused so Harry continued, "It means that only a handful of people are honest and stupid enough to give away their secret animagus form."

"Correct Mr. Potter, most obviously believe that their hidden talent would be most useful remaining hidden. Now it isn't the common public that is believed to be actual animagi, people that are Aurors, Unspeakables, Death Eaters, and Hit Wizards are the ones actually believed to be harboring second forms. Now the Ministry Departments allow Aurors, Hit Wizards, and Unspeakables their right of privacy if they have their secret form or not, considering it may very well save their life in their field."

"What do Unspeakables actually do?"

"Well, no one truly knows. It's mostly speculation, but the most plausible rumors are they research more of the dangerous and unstable magics in the world. However I'm not one to base anything on rumors."

"Oh, so yeah being an animagus isn't uncommon then." Harry stated bluntly.

"Yes, like I said before, the actual art isn't hard. It takes a long time, mostly because the people that trains in the art, trains in secret and without supervision. The animagus ability in itself lies within every magical being, but it was only discovered about by us Europeans a few centuries ago.

The actual art was known amongst the Native American magical beings, which they called Shamans, for millenniums. Even with such a wide range of the abilities existence, it was only recently improvements to learning the art had been applied.

The uses of potions and aura enhancing charms can easily help a person get through some of the more rough parts of the training. Before when I learned it, it took at least a decade of studying, but it seems that within a year of dedicated study, the art can be mastered." McGonagall said.

"So I'll learn how to become my other form within a year?" Harry asked.

"Oh no, what I meant was to train alone and without supervision. You Mr. Potter will be fortunate enough for two animagi to teach you the art. I can't exactly say when you will learn it, but with dedication it should be under a year."

"Wow..." Harry said.

"Well yes, now first things first, we must find what animal you are. Every animal is interwined with a person's soul."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

Victor answered, "The animal is what best represents your character. Mine is a shark, because I am aggressive and ambitious for what I want. I might have said that I broke things off with Hermione on good terms, but I did struggle till the very last." Victor smiled somewhat painfully.

"I heard that a soul doesn't define a person's characteristics, it's a person's experience that makes them who they are." Harry said.

"Yes that is true, but the experiences make an impression upon the soul. The soul holds a record of the characteristics of the person, which is why even when a person has amnesia or is obliviated the person still retains the same characteristics. Of course without having memories of people, they do not know who to trust so they may be wary of everyone, but an overall kind person will still be kind even without memories. It is true all souls at first are the same, but they mold to each person from their experiences." McGonagall said.

"So how do we do this?" Harry asked.

"Like this-," McGonagall shot a spell at Harry who fumbled to bring his wand for a defensive spell. A shield was produced but the spell just passed through.

Harry's mind was hazy. He couldn't focus on his surrounding, not that his surrounding was much to focus on. Everything around Harry was foggy. Harry didn't know what to do, Harry briefly wondered if death would be as peaceful as Harry's surrounding now.

Suddenly the fog was gone and a wood land surrounding overtook the foggy atmosphere. In front of Harry was... a ferret? Harry almost cried with the indignity of it all. Of all the animals in the world he was a ferret... He was a white ferret with a pink nose also, the same exact animal that Moody transfigured Malfoy into. It was almost as if the deities were mocking his taunting of Malfoy.

The ferret looked towards Harry and charged. Harry was shocked at the advancing animal 1/10th his size. The ferret jumped at Harry and Harry put up a half hearted effort to catch the ferret. The ferret jumped through his arms and went through Harry's chest. Harry felt like he ate something bad and was about to throw up.

The feeling was gone, but so was the forest surrounding. Harry was now falling.

He was falling through and endless sky, with no ground in sight. Harry was falling fast as he was on a firebolt, faster actually.

Harry looked around and noticed that a griffin was flying/falling beside him. The griffin was beautiful, with the front of a golden eagle and hind quarter of a lion. Then the griffin looked at Harry and flew towards him.

Harry put his hands in front of his body to hopefully block the advancing mythical beast.

The griffin just flew through Harry scaring the hell out of him. As Harry turned around to see where the griffin went it disappeared.

In its place was a dragon, a Hungarian Horntail to be exact. The dragon also flew towards Harry. Now this was a much more fearsome sight then having a griffin fly towards Harry. One, the dragon was about 20 times bigger then the griffin and... well that just about covered the reasons Harry needed for being frightened of the advancing dragon.

Harry blanked out as the dragon hit him.

"Harry, wake up. Harry, god damn it wake up!" A voice shouted into Harry's sensitive ears.

Harry bolted upright from the shout to his ear.

"What the hell!" Harry shouted to the person who woke him up.

"Sorry Harry tried to wake you up for 5 minutes now." Victor shrugged not looking too sorry.

"Alright... What happened?" Harry asked.

"You tell us, you were standing just standing there for 5 minutes before you collapsed. Your animal must be enormous or incredibly powerful to do that. I remember when my shark form attacked me, I felt drowsy but I stayed conscious." Victor said, while McGonagall nodded from Harry's left side.

"Yeah... Umm... I have three forms... That's not normal right?" Harry said to the shocked and disbelieving faces of Victor Krum and Minerva McGonagall.

"Three forms you say?" McGonagall said faintly.

"I guess from your reactions it isn't, just great... another thing that makes me out of the ordinary." Harry said quietly.

"Well this will certainly make your lessons different..." Victor said.

"Wait, wait... I thought you all said the animal will be what my soul best fits it or something... How the hell do I have 3 forms?" Harry nearly shouted.

"Mr. Potter, you should be glad that we had the wisdom to cast a privacy ward around this classroom, otherwise you would have given away you edge to the entire castle." McGonagall said disapprovingly, which Harry looked somewhat ashamed at his outburst.

"I must speak to Headmaster about this..." McGonagall said as she walked towards the fireplace located in her private office.

Minutes later McGonagall entered with Dumbledore trailing behind her. (Holy shit these long names are so fucking annoying to keep retyping!)

"Mr. Potter, Professor McGonagall told me about your rather unusual circumstance." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.

"How can you be so calm about this?" Harry asked truly wondering about the Headmaster's sanity. "You couldn't have possibly expected this, right?"

"Well I did slightly believe that you might have 2 forms. It was a very vague and fleeting belief, but in the corner of my mind it was there. However even I would not have expected 3." Dumbledore admitted.

"Professors, if you could give Mr. Potter and me some privacy?" The two professors nodded and went to the transfiguration teacher's office.

"Now Harry... Do you understand how a person's characteristics chose what animal a person gets?" Harry nodded. "Well, you are a special case. A person's experience forms their actual character, and because of your... foreign experiences I guess that is how you received a second form. However the third, I do not truly know..." Dumbledore looked thoughtful. "What were your forms Harry?"

"It's a griffin, dragon, and... a ferret." Harry blushed.

"Do not be ashamed of your animal forms; never be ashamed of what you are. Now I understand... The griffin is a mythical creature that has the combined form of an eagle and a lion. Both which are considered the kings of their respected territories. It is a creature that radiates leadership and authority. The animal is also a fierce protector and loyal to whomever earns their trust, and is also a very proud beast.

The dragon is also a fierce protector of its own, as you know from your personal experience of the rather spiteful dragon you met in the first task. It defended its children with dangerous vigor. The dragon is also quite temperamental creature, especially when one of its own is harmed. They go to extreme lengths to get revenge..." Dumbledore looked sad.

"Now a ferret..." Dumbledore seemed to try and hold in a laugh, failing miserably. Harry was blushing once again. "Well my vague association with ferrets led me to believe that they are very curious creatures. They are also very close with its fellow friends and family that are ferrets. They have a close bond with them and are very loyal.

The griffin is the part of you that is the leader. I know you portray this animal nicely as you have showed with the DA. You are also very loyal and kind to your friends. Now the dragon, I believe that is the foreign form that is brought to you by Tom's memories. Well the dragon is a most proud creature, which holds its family in the highest esteem. Anyone that harms or mocks its family feels the spite of the creature. As I said before, it is quite temperamental and goes to extreme lengths to get revenge on those that harm it and its family..." Dumbledore's eyes took a distant glaze.

"Well yes, now I believe the ferret is the part of you that still wants to remain a child. While the griffin is the part of you that realizes his duty and will lead others, the ferret is the one that wants to just be carefree and playful, to just enjoy time with his friend and family... While Tom's memories are foreign and still not intertwined with your memories, defining your character, the ferret and the griffin shows that the responsible part of you and the more childish part of you are clashing. Instead of the two combining to define who you are, they are trying to overrule the other." Dumbledore said.

"Wouldn't anyone with split personality have the same 'gift' as me?" Harry said.

"No, as I said before you are a special case. I don't not truly know for what reason your three different personalities are clashing to inhabit you souls, usually the three differences should find a compromise to make one soul with a bit of each properties. Hmm... Harry, Harry." Dumbledore chuckled. "You are the enigma for every law of magic I know."

Harry smiled a bit. "Would my souls being different affect me in any way?"

"No, I don't think it should be a problem, even though your souls are conflicting with each other your power seems to be whole."

"What do you mean? Are you saying that my soul carries my power?" Harry said.

"Of course Harry, do you not remember what happened at Tom's father's house?" Dumbledore said.

"Yes... he resurrected... with his father's bones, my blood, and Wormtail's flesh. What's the point?"

"Harry, there are three elements that allow a person to do magic: their soul, their blood, and their emotions. Well, in actuality their emotions aren't as important as the other two; it really just allows how you use the magic. So it's actually, only the soul and blood really matters.

The soul of a person is the source of their magic, their power. The blood of a person is the channeling of the magic from the soul. The blood merely brings the power from the soul to the body. The more efficient the blood the more power goes from the soul to the body. However if the efficiency is low the power 'leaks' into the surrounding rather then to the body. The blood's efficiency is called 'potency.' The higher the potency, the more efficient the power is filtered to the person, and the person alone.

Now it isn't just our soul or just our blood that defines how powerful we are. The soul can carry an enormous amount of magic, however if the blood isn't potent enough to allow good access, the power will be left mostly unusable.

Now as long as a certain level of potency is reached, magic can be done. If the blood is not potent enough for a person to use magic at their whim then they are considered muggles or squibs, depending on their heritage.

A soul carries a set limited amount of magic, which it seems to replenish from its surroundings. Even I do not fully understand why. Magic is a confusing thing, where not even I would be brave enough to say that I know everything about magic. I do not think anyone does or will in the near future.

The soul carries a constant amount of magic, but with maturity, the blood's ability to tap into the magic without wasting it increases. That is what puberty actually does; during puberty the blood's potency increase. It also seems that the potency increase is relatively constant.

If you have high potency increase one year, then the rest of your puberty will have high increase of your blood's potency. For the most part, puberty goes from when a person is around 5 to there late 20's or so. However the incredibly dramatic changes happen only in the teens to early 20's.

That is also how muggleborns come into existence, they already have the power, but on those rare occasions their blood will be potent enough to tap the magic in the person soul. That is also why we have the age line to come to magical schools so late. Instead of learning magic in what would be 1st grade in primary school, we delay the date in hopes of the majority of those that have their potency high enough to perform magic to arise.

There are some that develop it a year or two too late, usually muggleborns, so they go to smaller, more private magical institutes that help the late bloomers to adjust into the world. To not make them feel left behind in class, after they are ready they can stay at the private institute or they can transfer to a magical schooling.

However most of the late bloomers don't transfer the more well known schools, like Hogwarts. Hogwarts is quite adamant about accepting transfers but it seems that not many want to come here, after having adjusted to their schools already.

Now where was I? Oh yes, now there are also people with relatively low power, but with high potency in their blood to tap into their powers. They aren't actually powerful in terms of magic but because of their blood, they can grasp low to medium level magic very easily. That I believe is like your friend Ms. Granger.

Then there are high power and high potency people that can easily master magic. Quite like your father and mother, they were incredibly brilliant in Charm and Transfiguration. If they were alive now..." Dumbledore once again looked distant. "I'm sure they could easily surpass Professor Flitwick and McGonagall in their respective subjects.

You yourself have an incredibly amount of power locked away in your soul and I also believe that you have an incredibly high potency blood rate as of now." Dumbledore looked fondly at Harry, who looked at Dumbledore questionably.

"So if Voldemort has my blood, how is it so much stronger then me? He should have the same 'potency' as I do."

"Alas Harry, as I said before the soul also plays a part in the role not just the blood. Also it is because of the dark rituals that he must have done for a year after his resurrection. Do you not remember how you told me you had a duel with Tom after his resurrection? You told me a golden dome surrounded and a golden line connected between you and Tom's wand.

As I found out that is a brother wand's connection but that was also what the ancients labeled 'The Battle of Will and Power.' It tests your mind and power against your opponent and the fact that you made the ball of golden light go to Tom's wand shows that you were in fact superior against Voldemort will and power wise. It was just your limited magic that prevented you from doing anything.

And now that he performed Dark Rituals I suspect that he increased the rate at which your puberty was supposed to come about. I'm not sure by how much or where he is in terms of age puberty-wise, but I am confident that he accelerated it."

"So should I perform the ritual too?" Harry asked.

"No! Harry never should you do something to artificially increase your power. Almost all such tactics have dire side-effects. Affecting the mind's judgement is a most common outcome. I remember Tom from school, at his early years at Hogwarts he was a shy child. Brilliant, cunning, but very shy.

He had a boyish charm which enchanted many yet also brought a lot of hate and spite for his vulnerable attitude. It was sad to find him become so hateful and vengeful in his later year. I suspect it was because he found the Chamber of Secrets. The room must have had a lot of books that would have had recordings for Dark Rituals. I suspect that he did some during his 5th year or so, it was about that time his father and family were murdered and the terror started in the school." Dumbledore shook his head in sorrow. There were a couple of minutes of silence when Dumbledore straightened up.

"Well as I said before the soul seems to be divided into threes to help develop your three different animagus forms. However you are still of the whole soul so your power should also be whole."

"You said something about emotions. If the blood accesses the magic, why would emotions help increase the power behind spells?" Harry asked trying to divert the attention from Riddle.

"It is because even though the blood is what channels the magic from the soul to the body, the mind is what commands the use of the magic. If you didn't know, magic from the soul goes into much more then just spells. It is divided into many tasks in the body. Magic being used to increase the health of body is just one example.

Now the bodily supervision by magic is called "life magic." It isn't needed to sustain life, or else muggles wouldn't exist, but it is one of the reasons why wizards and witches live so much longer then muggles. Because of out magic, we heal our organs, bones, and tissues much more easily then muggles.

Life magic is the top priority of the mind no matter what the case is for a person. Now however in very emotional cases, a person can use the magic that is divided into the rest of the body for spell purposes. So the overall percentage of the magic is the same, but the person's uses of it are different."

"Oh... so a person's life magic is drained when a person is emotional and fires spells?" Harry asked.

"No, no, Harry. As I said 'Life Magic' is only a few of what the natural magic from your body is divided upon. 'Life Magic' is only magic that has to do with the health of the body. Blood is constantly channeling magic into the body, at such a rate that many researchers often mistake the source of magic to be the blood itself. When in actuality the blood has a net amount of magic always bring forth the magic from the soul and dividing it to the body.

The mind divides the magic brought forth from the blood to do many different things. As I have said using spells are not the only uses of magic. Magic can go into the muscles of a wizard. The more powerful a person is the more his magic substitutes the actual muscle mass needed for the same amount of strength.

Do you know why when a person is extremely emotional their aura seems to increase?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry shook his head.

"It is because the emotion clouds the mind. The mind is what controls the use of magic and when a person is overly emotional the mind doesn't make efficient use of the magic. So the unused magic goes into a person's aura. A person's aura is actually pure magic that is 'leaking' from a person. So that is why you should not let emotions get the better of you Harry. Not only does it cloud your mind from thinking rationally, it also makes you cloud your mind and make you waste precious magical energy.

Now with time a person can fully utilize to control their aura, for better or for worse. I can honestly say that I can bend my aura level to my own whims. I can project a great aura even when I am not truly emotional, just to bring attention to myself when chaos ensues. Or even when I am emotional, for the most part, I can control my aura to a minimum. I believe that Ms. Delacour has already learned how to manipulate her 'veela charm,' which is actually a blend of her aura and emotional magic."

"Oh..."

"So do you understand what only experience and age can give a person? Only with time can a person fully control their magic. Only with time are they the masters of their magic, not them being the slaves of it." Dumbledore said, and he looked alarmed. He looked at his pocket watch with the planets and let out a jolly laugh.

"Dear me, I've spent too much of your time, you have training with 'Hagrid' in a few minutes. Now Harry... I'm asking you to continue the DA. I truly think it would be wise to continue this lesson. After you change the name..." Dumbledore chuckled.

"So Harry, would you continue the club of yours? Your club was incredibly valiable allowing everyone in your club to get either an O or an incredibly high E. I am unfortunate to say that the rest of the 5th years managed to all fail the course with one or two getting off with a low E."

"Alright, but I'm in charge with no supervision. I teach what I want to teach, and I'm guessing that the morning lessons would need to be changed, seeing as how the RoR would be easily known and I don't think it would be wise to let anyone walk in on my lessons." Harry said.

"Marvelous, now expansion is in order for your club?" Dumbledore asked.

"Of course, but I make the cuts. This won't be some all-who-wants-to-join club. If they complain, I'll have your backing on this?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore nodded. "But do try to get over house rivalries Harry. This is a time needed for unity."

"All right, since this is a legal club, I'll have to arrange a time for the students to meet. I'll arrange it after seeing what the best time would be for all houses. May I ask you something Headmaster?" Harry said.

"Of course, you just-," Dumbledore stopped after seeing Harry's withering gaze. "Well Harry, I can see your impatience-," Dumbledore chuckled, "what is your question?"

"If the soul carries the magic, how is it that when I create clones I can put magic in them. I'm not putting parts of my soul in the temporary clones am I?" Harry asked with a bit of fear.

"Ah Harry, call up one of your clones with magic if you please." Harry did.

Dumbledore raised his wands and severed the clone in half. Harry looked a bit disgusted at seeing his own body split in half but saw that there was no blood at all.

"Hmm... ah so it's this form of cloning spell. You see Harry there are many varieties of spells that are similar to what you just did. Yours in fact makes a sort of golem. A golem made of flesh and organs, but absolutely no blood or soul. It merely has flesh, well so this is merely an object that can move, which is actually advantageous... It is great for confusion in a fight and to show your superior magical abilities.

Now to your question, normally your magic exits out of your wand, however your clone is actually a crude wand. You give the **clone** magic over a distance and it casts the spells that you wanted. This is both and advantage and disadvantage. The advantage is that you do not need to have your clone by you cast magic however the disadvantage is also that magic 'leaks' Harry. The farther your clone is the more magic that leaks into the air instead of into your clone." Dumbledore said wisely.

Harry nodded at the explanation and felt very small all of a sudden compared to the wealth of wisdom and knowledge that was Dumbledore. Even if the old man was sometimes very stupid in life, Harry had to begrudgingly admit the man's intellect in terms of magic.

"Now we must do something about your conflicting souls, I'll see what I can do Harry. Remember Harry your magic is not limited to spells, it works for you muscle also, don't forget. Now I believe that you should hurry off to Hagrids."

Harry rushed to Hagrid's cabin. He hadn't really had a chance to talk with Hagrid, only to briefly say some greetings at CoMC. This would be the first time he could really speak with him.

"Hello?" Harry said as he knocked on Hagrid's door.

Harry heard scratching at the other side. The door opened allowing a dog to jump at Harry.

"Down Fangs! Down! Harry, is that you? Good to see you Harry! Come in, come in!" Hagrid said joyfully.

Harry went into the shack happy to see his first friend once again.

"Hi Hagrid! What are you up to nowadays?" Harry asked cheerfully.

"Nothing much, Gwarp's a bit better now. No bruises, see?" Harry nodded at Hagrid's statement. "The centaurs are still iffy about last year's event with you and that toad. I say stuff those star gazers. If they were so smart, they would have seen that what you did was for the best and let bygones be bygones." Hagrid said angrily.

Harry smiled at Hagrid's support, and smiled. Hagrid always stuck by him and Harry truly felt grateful for that.

"Well it's almost time for your lessons to start. I don't think this is a great idea, personally I think it's a horrible idea. But I guess Dumbledore knows what he's doing, great man that Dumbledore." Hagrid sighed as he got up. Harry did too expecting that he was being taken to the training ground.

Hagrid led himself out of the cabin and into the forbidden forest. Hagrid carried a lamp that gave minimal lighting to the surroundings. Harry rather used his night-vision to see his surroundings. A few animals scattered from the area. They walked for a few minutes before Hagrid stopped. Harry stepped around Hagrid and was deeply surprised at what he found.

In a clearing was a large cabin. It was out of wood, and looked dearly out of place in the middle of the forbidden forest. Hagrid walked up to the cabin and Harry followed suit. He knocked on the door and the door opened.

The person that opened the door was a pale man, with blond hair, silver eyes, and clothes that would rival Malfoys. He actually looked very much like the Malfoys, could be a distant cousin. He stepped aside to let Harry in, while Hagrid gave a curt nod at the man before leaving. Harry entered the place and noticed how comfy the inside of the cabins looked.

The immediate entrance had a living room, and a door leading to somewhere. There was also a staircase that led to the upstairs. The man closed the door behind him and told him to sit on one of the chairs in the living room.

"My name is Richard Validus III. It is nice to finally meet you." The man said smoothly.

"I am Harry Potter." Harry said shortly, feeling foolish at having to introduce himself.

The man nodded and clapped his hands and his face once so calm took on an excited look. "Well Mr. Potter, you know why you are here, do you not?" Richard said.

Harry nodded while answer, "To learn physical combat."

The man nodded, "And did your Headmaster give you any information other then the fact that you were to train for physical combat? Any added information?" Richard asked.

"No." Harry said.

"Well, might as well come to the point with you, I, Mr. Potter, am a vampire." Richard said.

Harry's eyebrows rose slightly. "Well, Mr. Validus, I have a secret also. I am a wizard." Harry said dramatically, as if telling some deep dark secret.

Richard chuckled. "Why is it that you are not screaming in terror like the majority of your world does when they find out who I am?"

"Because I am not as prejudice as the rest of the public. At least I hope to God I'm not as stupid as the rest of the public. The public believes that vampires, werewolves, giants, and other sentient beings are evil and whatnot. Let me tell you, I have someone close enough to be my uncle that is a werewolf. The person that just brought me here is my first real friend, and half giant. And I find that the people I trust most amongst the wizarding world are those two, the two that are supposed to be 'evil.' Also the Headmaster seems to trust you, and while I think he's slightly cracked, I find it hard to believe that he will go out of his way to harm me."

Richard nodded, "Well glad to see that you are so open minded. Well I also have another surprise, I am not alone. Elizabeth, do come down and greet out guest."

Harry looked around and noticed a female descending from above. She had black hair, and silver eyes, and was wearing clothes that seemed to radiate fashion and wealth. She walked over to the two males and sat down on an empty chair.

"This is Elizabeth O'Riley. I sired her a few decades back. She is my daughter, I guess you can say." Richard said.

Harry looked over at Elizabeth, who returned the stare with disinterest. She was gorgeous; there was no doubt about that. Even though she was beautiful physically, her beauty lied more on her attitude, then her appearance. She gave off an appearance of controlled power. The grace and power you would expect from a leopard or a tiger.

"Pleasure to meet you." Harry said respectfully.

"I'm sure." She said casually.

Harry grinned at her cockiness, he had to admit she was stunning, but it wasn't as if he didn't seen better. "So Mr. Validus, how is the lesson going to progress?"

"Well, we will divide the time between weapon-less fighting, weapons fighting, and guns." Richard said.

"Guns?" Harry asked with curiosity.

"Of course, knowing how to use a gun can greatly differ a battle to your favor." Richard said.

Harry nodded and looked at him expectantly. Richard got up as did his sired. Harry followed suit and followed the pair of vampires to the previously closed door. He entered what looked like a sparing room.

Richard spoke. "Even before I was turned, I held an unmatched interest in weapons. Of course being that I was born in the 13th century, the wizarding world used swords and such more often then it is used now. I personally think that sword fighting and arrow shooting is slightly overdue.

Now that there are guns, weapons such as those are incredibly outdated. But I'll train you in the basics of sword fighting as I know proper dueling allows the uses of swords. I'll also help you use those daggers that are on you belt." Harry looked surprised but remembered that his robes were open allowing anyone to see his daggers.

"Of course, hand to hand combat is a must. You can't hope to always have your wand or your daggers. You must know how to fight, at least in the basics. The best part of this is you will be taught how to use a gun. Now don't just think that you have to point and shoot. No, it is more than just that."

Richard walked off to the side and told Harry that he will spar with Elizabeth. Richard told Harry that he wanted to see how much work he would need. Richard said that Harry was only allowed to use his body, not his wands, not his daggers, and no wand less magic.

Harry took off his cloak, daggers, and wands setting them aside. Harry then walked to the middle of the sparring room, where Elizabeth was already waiting impatiently. Harry looked at her and could just tell by her facial expression that she though it was a waste of her time.

The match was over before Richard even finished his affirmation to start. Harry was on his back supporting three bruises to his chest and a bruise to his face. Richard chuckled and told Harry that he was going to need a lot of work.

"Mr. Potter if you keep this up, Voldemort will have already taken over the wizarding world before you even grasp the basics. You aren't even landing one attack on Elizabeth." Richard said.

"She's too damn fast!" Harry exclaimed.

"Of course she is Mr. Potter. Vampires have increased speed, strength, and reflex. Just about anything that is physical we are superior to you." Richard said.

"Then what is this training supposed to do?" Harry asked irritated.

"Do you not understand vampire physiology? Do you not know why we are physically superior to regular humans?"

Harry shook his head.

"Mr. Potter, do you understand where magic comes from?"

Harry nodded having just had the lecture from Dumbledore.

"Then you understand that the soul carries the magic and the blood just transmits it to the body?" Harry nodded.

"Contrary to what muggle horror movies will have you believe, vampires have a soul. Vampires are actually a bit like ghosts and poltergeists in that prospective. They both have their souls that refuse to leave this world, and our souls refuse to leave this world. The only difference is the fact that our souls still resides within a solid form, although it is by all mean dead.

That is the main problem, even though our soul is still here my body has actually died. That means that we have no way of producing fresh blood as our heart has officially stopped pumping. Also because our body has died, meaning that our body can't compose itself naturally, we rely a 100 percent on magic.

Do you now understand why vampires have to feed on blood now?" Richard answered his own question. "It is because we have the power within our soul, but we can't access it on our own. We need to take a bit of blood from others to get power from our soul. Now vampires don't actually have to kill others to keep themselves alive, no we just need a sufficient amount of live blood, blood that would allow us to access our power, our magic.

The very magic that is used to fuel our muscles, organs, and tissues. The very magic that goes solely into our organs, making them stronger then natural. Anyone that can do magic can also manipulate their magic. That mean anyone with enough knowledge about their magic would be able to increase their strength just by the use of their magic. Do you understand now, what I am trying to teach you? Of course hand to hand combat techniques and sword training are important, but the real fundamental behind this lesson is to get you to be able to fully manipulate your magic to your very whim." Richard finished.

Harry nodded in understand. "How am I supposed to actually put magic within my muscles instead of using it for spells?"

"The same way you learn to shoot magic out of your precious little sticks. With training of course. Mr. Potter, have you ever just pushed your magic out in the purest form. To force a person back without conjuring banishing spells?" Richard asked.

Harry nodded.

"Good then you understand how to push magic around; the next step will be to push magic into your muscles instead of pushing it out of your body. Actually the rest of your lessons, except for gun training will be spent teaching you how to master the art. Until you at least master the basics of this, the lesson will be inadequate and useless."

Harry spent the next hour doing incredibly foolish looking exercises. The latest one being one of the weirdest.

"Mr. Potter, push against it, not with your body but with your magic." Richard said to Harry, who was trying to push a boulder 3 times his size.

"This is hopeless!" Harry said.

Elizabeth snorted at Harry, which made him more aggravated. He ended up shooting a burst of pure magic against the boulder, sending it flying 20 feet. Not very far, but considering that the boulder weighed 5 times Harry's weight, it was something.

"Don't you see? Magic is powerful! You must put that power within your muscle, instead of throwing it around like a toy!"

An hour later, Harry managed to budge the boulder, but that was about it. Richard patted Harry on the back while Elizabeth merely stuck her nose up in aggravation at his incompetence. "Do not worry Mr. Potter, it is hard to change the habit of our bodies, even I have a hard time doing advanced wizard magic like I did before I was turned. However it is possible to control our magic, so do not give up hope."

The next hour was spent with training in the use of guns. He first went into the pistols. So far his favorite was the duel berretta at least that is what Richard told his the name was. He liked the double guns, but he couldn't shoot shit with it. He then tried the Glock and it was okay. He then went to the Desert Eagle, but didn't like how there were only 7 bullets.

So he had to go with the .45 USP. It was a plain pistol with a decent bullet load. Harry mainly liked the gun because of its silencing feature.

The main problems with the pistols were the kickback. Harry's first shot usually hit the mark, but when in rapid fire, his second and third hit nowhere near the mark. Harry stuck with the USP, and they next went to the sub machine guns.

Harry's favorite SMG was the MAC-10, only because the gun was easy to reload, and only required one hand to fire with. Unfortunately, the kickback was extremely powerful when using one hand, so Harry's aim only suffered.

Richard told him that his aim should increase with time, and after Harry's strength increased. Richard told Harry that they would go into rifles and sniper rifles much later, seeing as Harry most likely wouldn't be able to carry them in at a constant time without attracting too much attention. Harry told him that he could shrink them and enlarge them when he needed it, but Richard told him that wasn't wise.

Shrinking and enlarging the guns, which had so many different components attached together, would make it hard. Also the fact that it was metal made it only more complicating. He told Harry that he would be better off just carrying a pistol around, but not to rely on it too much.

The only thing good about having a gun was that it didn't require saying an incantation to do anything. Just point and click, no one could outdraw a gun compared to a wand. But after the element of surprise, even the most mediocre physical shielding spells would deflect the bullets. It was only in the first 2 or 3 seconds that Harry would be able to kill a wizard with ease, the rest would be useless.

The rest of the lesson was spent on familiarizing Harry with his chosen weapons. Richard than gave Harry a .45 USP and two extra clips.

"I don't expect you to think the weapon you hold can be fired for fun. Only use it for emergency purposes Mr. Potter. I also trust that you will keep this weapon as secret as possible, the element of surprise is the best advantage in any situation." Richard said as Harry exited the training room.

"Thank you for helping Mr. Validus and Ms. O'Riley. I will see you next week then." Harry nodded at the two and exited the cabin.

Outside was a shifty Hagrid walking towards the cabin with a crossbow and a lamp.

"Harry! You should have waited inside the cabin until I came and got ya." Hagrid said.

"Sorry Hagrid, I'll be sure to do that next time." Harry said as the two went back to the castle. Hagrid walked Harry up to the front doors and went back to his cabin with a wave goodbye.

Harry walked up the stairs to Gryffindor's Tower. The walk was long and forbidding. Harry never noticed how spooky the castle was at 10 at night, with not a trace of noise from students around. It might have been the fact that Harry felt naked, having usually been under the cover of an invisibility cloak after hours, but Harry felt vulnerable.

Harry finally made it to the Fat Lady's painting, who was talking to another portrait. The Fat Lady looked down at Harry.

"Back from detention dear? Well hurry up and give me the password." The Fat Lady said.

"Courage and Valor." Harry said.

The painting opened allowing Harry access to the Gryffindor Common Room. There were only a lingering number of students still in the Common Room. Most were goofing around, but the one person that caught his interest was the new exchange student.

The very same person that lied to him about her identity. After the Healing Club, Harry vowed to watch out for her Dora McBlack. And Harry didn't have to look hard to find the girl, she happened to be in every one of his classes.

So that meant that she was incredibly smart, and she was in hiding. Harry couldn't tell what was so strange about her. He knew that she was lying about her identity, but something just seemed odd about her. He couldn't remember her from anywhere. He was sure he'd remember such a person.

Her muddy red hair stood out from the Weasley's fiery red hair, and her eyes were a mix between Dumbledore's twinkling sapphire eyes, and his mother's bright emerald eyes. Her frame was petite and still muscular, she seemed like an athlete. She was maybe a gymnast or a seeker from her supposedly previous school.

She was sitting at the corner of the Common Room reading a book. Harry sat on one of the comfy chairs in the Common Room and watched her for a while. She must have felt his gaze because she looked up from her book and into Harry's eyes.

Dora met his gaze and Harry looked down first. There was something about her attitude, her spunk that reminded him of someone... Harry already tried the Marauder's Map to find out who she was, but her name was placed on the map like the rest of the school's. Harry never let the map out of his site and figuring that it saw through animagus and polyjuice potions it must have been powerful.

Harry didn't how the map was faked, but he knew that Dora McBlack was not the girl's real name. That only worried Harry more; another thing that Harry relied on for the truth was proven fallible. Harry guessed that only Dumbledore and Voldemort could tamper with the map because just about no one else that knew of the map would be smart enough to do it. But how could either of them get their hands on the map, he had it within his position for the whole time at Hogwarts. And there was no way that an intruder could break into his trunk without Harry knowing about, at least Harry hoped not.

(September 10, Friday)

Harry stepped into the showers after a annoying as hell training session with Moody. For the past week nothing new was introduced to Harry in terms of spells so Harry had to opt with learning mediocre spells from books. Harry loved the duels but he enjoyed learning complex spells just as much. Harry wanted to wield the weapons that a war torn Auror did and more.

Harry finished with the shower and got dressed. He went to the Great Hall for breakfast. He sat down next to Neville and started talking to him. Neville was more confident now. After the Ministry event last year, his friends and family looked towards Neville with more respect. Harry did too, Neville proved his valor in Harry's eyes.

He stood by Harry's side against the deatheaters and was the last of his friends to go down. Harry felt bad for ignoring Neville in the past and made sure not to this year. He studied together with Neville for Herbology and Potions. Harry got a lot of help from Neville in Herbology and both Harry and Neville needed a lot of help in Potions.

Actually the only thing Neville had trouble with was the practical application needed in Potions. Theory-wise he was one of the best Harry knew, probably had to do with the fact that a lot of the ingredients used in potions were from Herbology.

Harry's grades were rising at a phenomenal rate, at least according to Remus who said Harry's improvement was the talk of the staff's meeting, along with Neville's. They were 4th and 6th of their class and were in the top 10's in their O.W.L. scoring.

"So what's up Neville." Harry asked after swallowing some omelet.

"Well... I'm going to-," Neville was practically squirming in his seat, "I'm going to ask- Susan out to the dance." Neville mumbled and blushed bright red.

Harry chuckled inwardly, no matter how much Neville changed he would still be Neville. He himself got 5 requests to the ball so far; he turned them all down telling them that he planned to go stag. It didn't hurt any feelings and Harry didn't want to worry about the ball right now. "Good for you, I'll root for you mate. But you should actually ask her out to Hogsmeade first, you know? To get to know her better, the ball is in December and the next Hogsmeade trip is in about 2 weeks. Thanks god that Acting-Minister stationed more Aurors at Hogsmeade allowing the Hogsmeades trip to increase." Harry said.

"Yeah, you're probably right; it is a bit too early." Neville agreed.

"Yeah the DA's on. I'm going to hold it this Sunday at 3pm. You still got your coin?" Harry asked.

Neville nodded proudly displaying his fake galleon.

"Good." Harry smiled warmly. "We lost a lot of people last year, so we'll have to recruit some more people. Look for some new members, and I'll raise a discussion about who should join or not on Sunday, Okay?" Harry asked.

Neville nodded.

Harry looked to his right and saw Hermione. "Oh great that's Hermione, got to make the final plans for the DA, talk to ya' later Neville. And good luck." Harry said to Neville as he walked to Hermione.

He plopped down next to her, startling her. She knocked her pumpkin juice over and Harry quickly cast a cleaning charm.

"Thanks Harry." Hermione said.

"No problem Mione. Got those extra galleons and the jinx parchment set?" Harry asked.

Hermione nodded and went back to eating. Harry frowned at Hermione's attitude. She was still a bit angry over being shown up at breakfast last week, but it was getting better. She was at least talking to Harry now.

Harry had already eaten his fair share of food for breakfast so he had nothing to do. Harry brought out his bag and took out his assignments. He proof read his Potion's essay yet again. He was really not looking forward to Potions after Tuesday's abysmal performance in the class.

His potion was going fine until for some reason his potions exploded. Harry would bet anything that Malfoy had something to do with it but he had not proof. So his partner and him got deducted 10 points and got a fail each for the assignment. The only thing keeping his grade at the moment was his homework assignment and written test grades.

Harry gleefully remembered Snape's shock and anger at Harry beating even Malfoy on his last written test.

Harry's musing was cut short as a Snowy Owl much like Hedwig, but obviously not landed on his shoulder. The owl was obviously well trained as it patiently waited for Harry to take the letter from its right foot/claw.

Harry gave the owl some bacon, but it seemed that the owl was also spoilt as it looked at the bacon in disgust. Harry shrugged his shoulders, much to the annoyance of the owl, and took the letter. The owl then quickly flew off his shoulder and to the Teacher's Table. It landed on Fleur's shoulder and preened itself.

Fleur petted it and the owl then flew off. Harry looked down at his letter. His name was elegantly written on the front of his mail in nice fluent cursive.

_Harry Potter_

_Dear Mr. Potter_

_I do not know if you remember me, but I am Gabriel Delacour. You saved me from the lake almost 2 years ago during the Tri-wizard Tournament. I thank you deeply for that and hope that my sister, Fleur Delacour, also relayed my thanks from her. I was also surprised at the fact that you gave me permission to write to you and I can say that I am honored._

_I do hope to speak more with you soon,_

_Gabriel Delacour_

Harry chuckled at the formality of the letter. She seemed so young back when he 'rescued' her from the lake and yet she spoke as if she was an adult. Must be the want to act mature, just about every kid wants to act older then they were. Harry pocketed the letter and looked at his watch. He groaned at finding that he had less then 10 minutes till Potions.

Harry entered the Potions class at a reluctant pace. The class was becoming more and more interesting, but the class was also becoming more and more unbearable. It seemed that Snape's hatred for him only increased with the level of difficulty of the potions they were learning.

To top it off after Friday's acting, Harry wasn't able to be present for the choosing of the year's partner. So Snape conveniently chose his new partner for him. That was how Harry found himself paired off with Blaise Zabini, resident Slytherin's Ice Queen and temperamental bitch.

"No, no Potter! Do you want us to fail, again! I can't believe your inexplicitly for the most basic level of potions!" Blaise was shouting into Harry's ears as he exited the potions classroom.

"The book said to put the lace wings after the flubberworm chopping!" Harry said.

"After you stir the potion 3 and a half times in the **counter clockwise** direction you nitwit!" Blaise said. "I can't believe I **let** you read the directions for the potion to me!"

"Okay! So I read it wrong sorry! It's not like the damn lighting in the dungeons let me read the damn book easier." Unfortunately the lighting was barely enough to not activate Harry's nightvision function. Harry found out how to turn it on and off during the night but not how to turn it on with the light.

"Good god! And you couldn't use your wand or something!" Blaise said.

"As if I could have without kicking me out of potions under the threat of me to blow his arse off or something!" Harry said.

"You are hopeless Potter." Blaise said shaking her head sadly.

"I wouldn't even take this stupid class if I didn't need it for my Auror entrance. Fat lot that did, I'm not even sure if I want to be an Auror." Harry said.

"Are you stupid or what? Potions are as important if not more then Transfiguration and Charms combined. Any job worth half a decent pay requires a NEWT in potions. I don't even have to go into job uses for potions to explain its importance. Potions of so many varieties go into the basics for home management! Just about any wizarding home you go to at least has a basic medic kit that has the fundamental headache potion, wound-cleaning potion, blood loss potion, stomach ache potion, a burn healing potion, and pepper-up potion. You may get them at a pharmacy but you shouldn't ever trust someone else's potions skills.

Then we can go into pest control. The doxicide potion to get rid of the doxies from infesting your home, the memory potion in case you need to have a sudden increase in memory capability for work and whatnot, Magical Mess Remover potion to help with stains and such, sleeping potions for sleeping problems, and some exocisism potion to help ward your walls from unwanted spirits. Well that's just the basics I know of, you can't use spells for everything! They lose their magical potential so quickly you'll have a monthly renewal of every spell for the house!" Blaise was ranting at a rate even Hermione would be proud.

After a few more minutes Harry decided to interrupt. "Okay, okay I understand Zabini. Potions are important, doesn't mean that I'll like the class with your greasy Head of House. Now I got to go to CoMC so see you later."

(Great Hall, September 10, Friday)

Harry walked into the Great Hall and was still amazed at how much work went into the Hall for every elective to take place. For the meals the regular tables were set going vertical the length of the hall with equal spacings apart. However for the Healing Arts class there were actual class tables for seating. The organization of the tables made themselves into an oval shape all being directed to the center of the oval. Therefore all the students would face the teachers that they surrounded.

The lesson itself went more slowly now. The reading picked up at a phenomenal rate but the actual spell castings went more slowly. It seemed that the lesson plans for the year was still a bit unstable, seeing how the teachers kept changing tactics. Harry couldn't blame them, it was the first year something like this was being done, and they just didn't know how much they could teach a bunch of students that didn't even take their NEWTs let alone some that didn't take OWLS yet for the subtle and challenging art that was Healing.

They had tests often and the homeworks they had were long but interesting. The only thing Harry didn't like about the lessons was the frequent appearance of Snape. It was bad enough that Harry had to see his greasy arse in Potions, but healing was also 70 percent potions so it was obvious that he'd come. The potions they learned were nowhere within the school's normal curriculum and Snape didn't seem to care. They chose the class they should deal with it.

The MD class however was completely different. It had no structure and no expectation. It merely gave the students a chance to practice their dueling and to show off in front of the school. Harry thought it was a waste of time. They didn't even go into spells or anything, it was merely a competition to introduce the class into dueling, something that Harry already had every morning.

Personally, Harry thought both of the electives had been rushed. Both classes would go by much faster if they kicked out the 4th and 5th years. They were mere hinderance and annoyance to the whole electives. If the class actually taught spells then they wouldn't be as aggravating, but they barely knew stunners let alone any advanced dueling techniques. Harry personally wanted to take this up with Krum, and today he planned to.

"Victor may I speak to you before this class starts?" Harry asked cheerfully.

"Of course Harry." Victor looked at Harry expectantly.

"Well I don't mean to be rude, but I think a reorganization is in order for the MD class. I have a few ideas on how it could be better, but I can honestly say that the duels could be expanded from just a one to one to a three against three and so fort. The class should also have more then one duel going on at the same time.

This class is practically going nowhere with about a 100 people with a fifth of them not knowing jack in spells. The other 4/5th of the class are dueling a match for 5 to 10 minute and with 5 minutes in between each duel for preparations and injuries. That's an average of about 16 to 30 people dueling every day. We can broaden this by put up 2 to 4 dueling platforms. We have the number of teachers needed."

Krum was looking thoughtful at Harry's suggestion.

"I will talk to the other teachers and see what they think about it." With that Krum walked off.

A few minutes later. "Hello and welcome. It has been brought to my attention that changes should be in order for this class. So I have taken the suggestion into account with the rest of the teachers and we have decided to indeed change this class around. We will increase the dueling participant's number.

Although one on one dueling is the standard, multiple number dueling is not unheard of. This will allow you to have teamwork and to get to know your fellow duelers better. Now you can't choose your teammates and for every duel it will be a different teammate, if you have teammates at all. As I said every duel will be different from the next. You can have a one on one at one duel, a three on three, a three on one, and etc. We may just for the hell of it even have a ten on ten. You do not have to accept but the door is always there for those who do not want to participate in the duel." Krum said with fever.

"Now a random name generator will choose the teams." Moody ruffed out.

Moony brought a box that sputtered a moment as soon as it was dropped on the floor. A mist came out from the box and formed letterings

_Number: 1_

_Duel: Friendly_

_Type: 3 vs. 1_

_Team 1: Malfoy, Draco – Weasley, Ronald – Goyle, Gregory_

_Team 2: Potter, Harry_

_Number: 2_

_Duel: Friendly_

_Type: 2 vs. 2_

_Team 1: Longbottom, Neville – Zabini, Blaise_

_Team 2: Granger, Hermione – Parkinson, Pansy_

_Number: 3_

_Duel: Friendly_

_Type: 3 vs. 3_

_Team 1: Bones, Susan, Patil, Padma, Brown, Lavender_

_Team 2: Corner, Michael – Finnegan Seamus – Smith, Zacharias_

Harry almost snorted in laughter. The duel was more then likely rigged, there was no way in hell such a coencedence that he was to have a one on three duel against the people that seemed to despise him the most, a pairing between a Griff and Slyth duel, and the former DA members, girls vs. boys duel.

Harry looked towards Moody who gave him a smirk and a wink. Now Harry knew without a doubt that the box was rigged.

Harry walked towards the platform with an evil smirk on his face. Harry wondered if he would need to go all out on this duel, probably not but he shouldn't underestimate his opponent.

One of Moony's more favored warnings to Harry was that he should always go into a fight expecting the other person to be a reincarnation of a deity that was very well fly and teleport anywhere and everywhere while shooting laser out of his eyes and arse. Harry had a kick out of the metaphor, but he meaning was clear. Never go easy on your opponent and always prepare for the worst.

Harry definitely didn't have to worry about an organized duel like he had against Moody, Moony, and Kingsley over the summer. There was no doubt in Harry's mind that Goyle was too stupid to make plans, Ron to stubborn to work with Malfoy, and Malfoy to arrogant to be anything less then leading this duel.

Harry and the three signed the dueling slip with an agreement to use Dark Arts. Ron looked hesitant to sign until Malfoy baited him.

"Scared Weasley?" Malfoy said.

"Not on your like Malfoy." Ron said and signed.

Harry sighed at Ron's gullibility and smirked at how easy Malfoy was able to wheel Ron in. Harry walked relatively near Malfoy.

"This is a lose-lose situation for you Malfoy." Harry muttered.

"How do you figure that Potty?" Malfoy taunted.

"Your vocabulary skill coincides well with your I.Q., but obviously if I lose people will say you can only beat me on an unfair duel, and if I win you'll never be able to live it down." Harry said smugly.

Malfoy growled and walked away.

Harry took his place on the other side of the dueling platform with only his wand out. Harry could see the 4 duelers putting up the shielding spells to protect the Hall and the audience from stray spells.

"To win, knock out all your opponents or get them to surrender! On my mark! Three, two, one!"

As expected the three charged in with no plan and no tactics what-so-ever. Ron started firing mediocre spells with Goyle following. There distance was too great as Harry dodged all the spells with ease. Their aim was relatively good, but the fact that they were almost at the other side of the great hall meant that Harry had a lot of time to dodge.

Malfoy surprisingly already knew this and didn't attack like an idiot. Harry used the timing he had wisely and performed what he dubbed the 'shotgun' spell. It seemed fitting after he saw the damage the shotgun did last Sunday. Harry conjured 21 snakes and ordered them to attack the other three.

They started aiming at the snakes so Harry did a spell he only recently learned.

"Abscondo Caliginosus!"

The end result was a rapidly developing fog from the tip of his wand. It soon covered the majority of the field because of the fact that Harry still had his triple 'shotgun' spell on, but Harry was able to see through the fog with his enhanced eyes. Harry dispelled his shotgun technique because it was draining to use.

Malfoy cast some sort of wind charm blowing away some of the fog, but because of the fact that they were in a confined area; the fog replaced itself rather easily. Ron on the other hand started shooting spells all around him and Goyle, who was close enough to see what Ron was doing, quickly followed suit. Ron even tried a 'finite incantantem' although it didn't work to dispel the fog. They almost his Malfoy and he quickly shouted obsinities at them, getting them to finally stop there idiocy.

Harry and his snakes by now were close enough to attack the three. Harry sent his snakes at Ron and Goyle, preferring to deal with Malfoy on his own. Malfoy then shot a spell sucking in the fog into an orb. Harry and his snakes were soon discovered, but by that time his snakes had already wrapped themselves around Ron and Goyle, rendering them useless.

"Nice one Malfoy." Harry said as the two started circling each other.

Malfoy merely sneerly and sent many varieties of spells at Harry. Harry put up a special shield spell that would help suit his needs. It blocked some physical attacks and could take a healthy dose of magical attacks, but the best most useful thing about the spell was that it created an opaque dome around the caster, rendering the user blind to the opponent. However the caster could still see through the inside of the shield allowing the person to gauge the opponent.

As Harry maintained his shield he started creating clones of himself, each with magical abilities. Harry wasn't able to improve the connection to make the magic leak less, but he was able to make the clones move telepathically. It didn't exactly confuse the opponents if a person was shouting out orders to the rest of his look-alikes. Now he could make the clones act exactly like he wanted without having to vocalize his motives.

The only problem was that he go easily confused trying to order multiple clones at once, so he had to either give them group commands or label the clones by mental numbers. Harry dispelled the shielding spell and ordered the clones to spread out and surround Malfoy.

Malfoy's eyes widened at seeing 10 Harry's but then sneered.

"Think you can fool me, I know that they are illusions. Decurro!" Malfoy spread it in a arc around his whole body.

Harry ordered the clones to take the hit like he did. The water wasn't strong merely enough to hit Harry and get him annoyed. Malfoy looked shocked seeing the clones all dripping wet with water.

Harry smirked at how similar Malfoy's tactics were to his own when he first saw what Moody did. The only difference was that Harry wasn't going to beat the shit out of Malfoy physical.

"Gurges-itis!" The ten Harry shouted.

The result was a 10 individual waves of water heading toward Malfoy, which them collected together to form one massive wall of water surrounding Malfoy. The water hit Malfoy like a ton of brick knocking the breath out of him and Harry used the time to dispel his clones and drying to water from himself. Malfoy was down for the count for now and Harry tried to stun Malfoy when his reflex kicked in to dodge a stray spell that would have hit him.

Harry looked to his right and saw that Goyle and Ron had destroyed his snakes and as he looked to his right Malfoy was getting up from the ground. Harry cursed at the situation, not only was he 3 against 1, he had to face two side of the battle rather then all 3 together.

Harry couldn't use his shield again to hope to create clones, not even dimwits would allow him the time to create the clones again.

'_How do I get out of the being surrounded by them?'_

Harry reacted quickly by sending the blinding charm at the room and sent a stunner at Malfoy who jumped away from his original spot on instinct alone. Harry had to admit, Malfoy dueled good. Harry cursed though, the blinding spell didn't last long and Harry's first choice was to take out one of his opposition. But after his only try failing, Harry couldn't afford to take another try to stun Malfoy and had to go with the second option.

Harry jumped in the air and sent a powerful banishing charm at the ground jumping over Malfoy and almost hitting the ceiling. He landed safely by casting a weaker banishing charm to decelerate his fall. By now everyone could see properly and was sending all sorts of spells towards Harry.

They all missed, luckily, and Harry cast another wave of water charm towards the three that were standing relatively by each other at the moment. They dodged, but Harry wasn't trying to actually hit them, though it would have been better. Now the ground the three were standing on was incredibly wet and Harry smirked.

The three quickly sent spells towards Harry which Harry dodged due to the distance between them. Harry sent his lightning spell towards the ground with water on it, immediately shocking all three of his opponents.

They huddled over in pain and dropped their wands. Harry quickly ended his spell and summoned their wands. The duel wasn't over, but now he had their only weapons giving him an incredible edge in the fight. Harry highly doubted they could do wandless magic and the fact that there were no knives, swords, and staffs being used in their duel they were relatively helpless.

The three got up from the ground groggily. Goyle was about to say that surrendered, but Malfoy shut him up relatively quickly. Harry shot stunners of the group but they dodged out of the way. Harry was increasingly irritated.

"Surrender or I'll keep frying your arses." Harry commanded.

"You wish Potter-." Ron said.

"Ira Fulgur!" Harry shouted the spell 'Zeus' Wrath' at the ground once again. The three groaned in pain and misery. Harry looked towards Krum but all he did was shrug. The rule had been when the three was, 'knock out all your opponent or get them to surrender.' Harry sighed at their stubbornness.

Harry tried another round of stunners hoping to hit them but they dodged once again.

"Once again, surrender or I'll fry your arses." Harry said.

"Come and get us Potter." Malfoy choked thru gasps of airs.

Harry shook his head, he truly wanted to get near them and stun them, but Harry didn't want to risk being attacked physically or getting in the water himself. Harry was gritting his teeth trying to think how to take the three out without having to torture them.

Harry then smirked as he brought forth 3 golems made of stone. They were 8 feet tall and were made out of the same material as the ground he was standing on. They looked durable and pretty strong.

"Go to those three and subdue them." Harry commanded the golems. They advanced at relatively decent speed and Harry followed them warily. Harry was now in the water and wouldn't be able to do the lightning spell.

The golems were close to the three but then Malfoy did something that was someone expected, but still a shock to Harry. Malfoy sent a powerful Reductor spell with a second wand. The stone golems blew up in front of Harry with stones hitting his body.

Harry was knocked back and groaned. He then jumped to his feet and noticed that Malfoy had summoned all the wands to himself. Harry didn't even have his wand holster, as he wasn't allowed it, so his wand got summoned.

Harry glared at Malfoy.

"Fucking cheater." Harry said.

"At least the tables have turned Potter." Malfoy smirked as he handed the other two their wands back. He was waving Harry's wand tauntingly.

Harry smirked, which Malfoy saw. "What's so funny Potter?"

"Don't you get it Malfoy, I won the duel. You cheated and so your team gets disqualified."

"Sorry Potter, Professor Krum never specified that only **one** wand may be used so my tactic was legal." Harry looked towards Krum and saw him nod. Harry groaned he could have used his other two wands if he weren't so stupid and knew that more then one wand could be used.

At least Harry wasn't helpless; he didn't need a wand to fight. It would just require more concentration. Malfoy raised his wand and shouted "adflictatio!" Harry's eyes widened at the spell, it was one of the more powerful cutting curses known. It causes the user's skin to rip from the muscles and the victim would usually bleed to death if not treated immediately.

Harry raised his hand and shouted "Protego!" A silver shield went up and took the spells, breaking upon contact. Harry used the momentary stunned expression of the three to his advantage. Harry banished Goyle into Ron and summoned his wand from a shock stilled Malfoy. His wand flew to his hand.

Malfoy finally got his bearing and tried to attack once again. However Harry was pissed off at the fact he was almost going to have suffered one of the most painful cutting curse alive and wasn't going to allow Malfoy to attack again. Harry quickly used the most powerful and painful banishing spell he knew.

"Aequilibritas!" Harry shot the almost lethal version of a Reductor Curse at Malfoy.

The bright white light erupted from Harry's wand and made him recoil as if he shot a gun. The effect was much worse for Malfoy as several of his ribs broke as the curse made contact on his chest. He then literally flew about 40 feet to the end of the Great Hall crashing against the wall. Harry could hear more of Malfoy's bones breaking as Malfoy slid down from the wall on to the floor. Harry sneered at Malfoy and looked down at the Goyle and Ron.

Goyle took to brunt of the banishing charm, but it seemed that Ron got the worst deal as he was suffocating under Goyle's enormous weight.

Harry stunned Goyle and petrified Ron. He then heard the start of the 10 count and walked away from the duel. There was no way that Malfoy was still conscious and Ron and Goyle weren't going anywhere anytime soon so Harry knew he won the duel.

Harry walked off the stage after the 10 count was done and Harry was greeted with silence. Snape was the first one to encounter Harry and couldn't even make a spiteful retort.

Harry just walked past the stunned crowd and looked back to the dueling platform. Madam Pomprey and Fleur were rushing to Malfoy with Krum and Moody bringing Ron and Goyle about. Harry looked at his watch was surprised that the duel lasted 15 minutes.

'Felt more like 5.' Harry thought dryly.

Harry went back to collect his clothing and jewelry. He donned them quietly and sat on to watch the rest of the duel. Harry could see Madam Pomprey leaving the great hall with Malfoy in tow magically suspended in the air. Fleur stayed behind and Harry conjured a mirror to see if he was injured.

His face was a bit bruised from the stones that blew in front of him, but Harry could easily say that he had the best outcome from the duel. Harry did the healing spell he learned on the first day for Healing Arts and applied it to his face.

His once bluish tinted face became a healthy yellow. Harry then dispelled the mirror and saw Hermione, Neville, Blaise, and Pansy step onto the now clean and dry dueling platform.

"Hello Harry." A quiet voice to his right said.

The duel started.

"Hello Fleur." Harry didn't even have to look to know the fluent and slightly accented voice of the part Veela.

Neville and Blaise stayed together and seemed to be conversing, while dodging and blocking spells sent their way.

"That was a most _interesting_ duel." Fleur said.

Hermione called out to Pansy to stop, but she started advancing to the two. Hermione was forced to advance also otherwise Pansy would easily be knocked out leaving Hermione in a worst situation of being outnumbered.

"I guess so." Harry said shortly, even he could hear the disappointment lacing Fleur's voice.

"Mr. Malfoy will be fine, just has to stay in the Infirmary for a couple of days." Fleur said.

Neville blocked a stunner aimed at Blaise and Blaise sent blasting curse back at Pansy.

"I truly don't care." Harry said.

The two groups of two started violently exchanging spells.

"You shouldn't say that Harry. You are responsible for what happened." Fleur sounded like a nagging Mrs. Weasley.

Blaise and Neville were winning due to the fact that they had teamwork. They covered each other's arse, while Hermione covered Pansy's but not vice versa.

"I only retaliated as bad as I got." Harry said shortly.

Hermione was hit with a leg locker curse and she tumbled leaving Pansy to defend herself.

Fleur stayed silent, she did agree with what Harry said. She as a Healer definitely knew what curse Malfoy used on a seemingly helpless Harry. She didn't even have to hear Snape as he clarified the spell's intent to Moony and Krum. If Harry wasn't so powerful, Fleur would be rushing Harry to St. Mungos in hopes to save his life. Not even Hogwart's infirmary would have been able to help Harry if the spell was successful.

Pansy was blasted 10 feet back and Hermione managed to dispel the curse and stand up. Pansy got up and explained that she had a twisted ankle to Hermione, who retreated back to help Pansy.

"I see you got a letter from my sister." Fleur tried to change the conversation.

Neville and Blaise started advancing towards the retreating girls.

"Her letter was _formal_." Harry chuckled a bit.

Neville and Blaise split up and tried to surround the two girls. A wise move seeing as how Pansy was injured and Hermione wasn't about to leave the girl to retreat on her own.

"Yes, she was really nervous about writing to you, she didn't know what to say." Fleur giggled.

Pansy and Hermione found themselves having to go back to back, Hermione fighting Blaise and Pansy challenging Neville.

"I'm going to write back to her later. Tell her how she could be more lax when writing." Harry said.

A would be wise move if they were a good team, but while Hermione looked out for Pansy, Pansy did nothing of the sort.

"I'm sorry for getting a bit _rude_ with you Harry." Fleur said.

Hermione blocked a lot of curse that would have hit Pansy's back, but Pansy merely dodged and evaded the curses sent her way, curses that hit Hermione in the back and leaving her out for the count.

"It is okay, can't say that my dueling tactics were exactly friendly." Harry said.

Fleur frowned, which Harry didn't see. "Yes... I'm going to have to speak with Mr. Krum about that... these Dark Arts... they're too dangerous to use in a friendly dueling competition at school."

Pansy didn't have the time to try and revive Hermione, seeing as how she was the target of attack from two fronts. She retreated and tried to get the two duelers back on one front.

"Maybe you're right..." Harry grinned at Fleur. "But it'll take the fun out of dueling."

Pansy soon found that she was roped up and had major boils developing on her face.

Fleur left to attend the duelers and Harry sat back and looked grim. He saw Moony looking at him worriedly and Moody was looking at him with a calculated look. Harry had a feeling that his morning lessons would take a turn for the worst.

A/N: Incredibly sorry for the length of the update. Heard a lot of complaints, but I hope the length of the story somewhat appeases their anger. By the way, I try to explain magic, but lol not even the damn writer of the book understands it so... yeah... Well anyways, I try but sorry if it's confusing. Hope to update soon, but don't hold your breath on it, I find that writing becomes more and more taxing.

Topsta: The deatheater chapter will take place later. But it will happen soon. I want to go more into the social life of Harry, didn't get to in the past and want to start doing it now.

Saetan: Yeah, Ron will be helping in later chapters, but he won't be Harry's good friend. He'll be okay with Harry, and more then okay with Hermione, but Harry won't trust him like before.

Irihi Safaia: Yeah, I'm sorry about the delay on this chapter. My summer is starting to pick up the pace, what with it being near school..

Jon3776: Well I've tried to have Harry mature a little, but he is still a child. He still thinks that he can take on just about anything thrown at him, and he doesn't realize just how human he is. Dumbledore realizes Harry's limitation, but doesn't want to lecture him or anything about it not wanting to provoke Harry any further and strain their already crappy interactions. For Ron, I'll explain later in the story.


	6. Chapter 6

Harry Potter and the Tainting of the Light

Chapter 6

A/N: Thanks for the review, I understand that my explanation of magic's confusing. I can't help explain what I myself don't fully comprehend. I try, but yeah... Also PEOPLE, one vote only. No, "I would like a Harry/Fleur, Harry/Blaise, and Harry/Whatever." Please just one vote! Multiple voting will be ignored, but don't worry you can just place your votes for the next chapter or so. Note that only one LEGAL vote from each SIGNED review will be counted. Sorry to all, but Harry and Bellatrix pairing will not work in this story. I like the pairing, but it just doesn't fit with what I want to write, which truthfully I have no idea how I want to write this story, totaling bsing it with a few ideas.

Note: For the DA, Dennis Creevey will not be able to take part in it, considering that he is a 2nd year and I can't explain how he showed up at Hogsmeade. So sorry folks, but Dennis will not be in the DA.

Also about the Ron bashing, sorry if you don't like it but I'm still going to write it. I made it a Ron bashing fiction at a spur of the moment and I'm just going to have to keep writing it. I promise, that I won't make him a jealous idiot if I write another story.

**(Room of Requirement, September 11, Saturday)**

The ever changing room of requirement stunk of sweat and the very air was filled with tension commonly found amongst places where powerful magic had been previously used within the immediate area. Within the room were three men of average height, who were standing within a room that was no bigger than an under-funded class.

Two of three men were currently circling one another, similarly to what people saw in martial arts competitions, both giving of such poise and tension of one used to readily to spring into battle. The third man stood off to the side content to watching the other two a fair distance away.

The intelligence of such a motive was proven by the several scorch marks on the stone walls that surrounded the three men. The third man, one with salt and pepper hair where the pepper was actually brown rather then black, stood calmly yet was ready to dodge any stray spells that would come his way. His face shown with fatigue, but the man kept a decent effort to look cheery and exuberant.

His face showed concentration on the duel taking place. The man with salt and pepper hair wasn't quite sure at the intellect of the duel taking place. The favor was clearly one sided, and his concern fell for the man with the clearly underdog odds.

A stray spell from one of the two duelers hit the wall, taking a sizable chunk out of solid stone. The duel, to the man, wasn't even truly a duel. More like a sport for one dueler and a torture session for another. The first dueler hobbled to the side as he sent another powerful spell towards the second dueler.

The second dueler dodged the spell and retaliated with a rather weak stunner. The first dueler didn't even bother to dodge, favoring to block the spell rather then making use of his clunking wooden leg.

The second duelers spell wasn't particularly powerful so the shield took the spell's blow with ease, with enough power to still maintain the integrity of the shield after the hit. The second dueler glared at the first with eyes that shone like darkened emerald. The emerald eyed dueler knew the futility of the duel, but didn't want to admit his hopelessness to the first dueler.

The first dueler saw the glare and countered with a rather maniacal grin, twisting his already scarred face to something seen in cheesy under funded horror movies. The third man merely rolled his eyes at the antics of the duel stubborn and hardheaded duelers.

The first dueler with the heavily scarred face shot two closely consecutive spells to the dueler with eyes like emerald. He in turn dodged the spells by rolling to the right and tried to quickly right himself up to retaliate with a spell of his own. The scarred man's electric blue eyes stayed focused on the emerald-eyed dueler's progress.

The first dueler shot a stunner immediately to the second dueler's right, having expected the green-eyed dueler to do such a move. The bright emerald eyes widened showing his surprise and fear. The man quickly raised his right hand and wandlessly conjured a shield. The shield was weak and had been hastily cast so it wasn't surprising to second dueler when it broke upon contact with the spell. But the shield did block the stunner and that was what counted.

The second dueler dodged for 2 more minutes before a stray stunner grazed his arm putting half his body to sleep. The first dueler clanked noisily to the second dueler and stunned the second dueler, who could do nothing but glare, at point blank range.

The second dueler woke from a temporary forced sleep and protested noisily.

"What was the point of that duel? I didn't stand a chance against you Moody; not without a wand!" The second man said.

"Aye Potter; didn't really expect to win did ya'? The only point to that duel was to help get you more familiar in using wand less magic." Moody said to the second man.

"That's right Harry, it is better for you to be more at ease with using wand less magic. You never know when you'll need it." The third man said.

"It doesn't mean that I should be doing it in a duel. You could have just had me practice wand less magic on my free time." Harry grumbled.

Moody laughed. "This is your free time, and there is no better way to practice then in a fight!"

Harry grumbled something about bad luck. The whole lesson was the result of the yesterday's duel with Malfoy, Ron, and Goyle. If he wasn't so fool hardy enough to broadcast his progress in wand-less magic in the duel, he wouldn't be in the current situation.

Harry might as well had put an ad in the Daily Prophet telling to whole world of his aptitude in wand-less magic at the rate at which the whole school found out about how the duel ended against Malfoy.

Harry protested with vigor to deaf ears. Harry looked towards Moony for support, but it seemed that even now Moony was in shock at Harry's wand less magic performance the day before.

Moody stepped back to the middle of the well damaged room and told Harry to stand. Harry did and Moony handed him his wand. Harry grabbed the Holly wand and was thankful to have the familiar leverage in his hand. With the wand Harry's odd probably tripled at the very least.

"Well time for your wand training. Wand-less magic is good, but you should also train in wand magic. It goes without saying that only with a wand can you accomplish advanced spells, and it is just as important to practice advanced spells then to practice wand-less spells.

As the duel started, Harry pressed his only potent advantage in the duel. His overall mobility was Harry's best bet to winning the duel. Harry knew that he was more powerful than Moody or at least hoped, but Moody's knowledge in spells easily overrode that. Knowledge was as important as raw power.

Harry did notice that over the past few weeks the duel's difficulty rose significantly. It was almost as if Moody had levels to which he dueled at. The spells used in the duels became increasingly more complex as time progressed. Before stunners, jinxes, and simple conjuring charms were used by Moody, but recently Moody's spells were incredibly powerful. Also Harry noticed that he rarely fought duels against multiple opponents nowadays. Harry didn't know why, but it had been a while since Harry dueled against Moony.

5 minutes into the duel Harry found himself incredibly tired. His duel by wand-less magic drained him incredibly. Even though Harry could do wand-less magic, even up to stunners, Harry found that he had to put more "bang for the buck" as muggles put it. Harry figured that his channeling needed work.

A lot of the magic that he used didn't go into his spells. Harry didn't know exactly where it went, but Harry knew that he expended a lot of energy to get weak spells. Harry guessed that the tension in the air was from most of his magic leaking unused into the surroundings.

So while Harry drained his magic, Moody was conserving it by using a wand. So the duel turned ill for Harry rather quickly. Harry chose to not use his wand as often and chose to instead dodge more of the curses.

Harry was soon magically exhausted and physically tired. He couldn't even put up a good fight and went down by a stray stunner. Harry had been too exhausted to dodge the curse and just watch as it struck his stomach.

Harry woke to find Moody standing over him.

"That duel was disgusting Potter." Moody practically spat at Harry.

Harry was deeply annoyed. He hadn't been talked down by Moody in quite a while. Sure Moody didn't really praise him that often, but Moody always seemed to have a grim amusement whenever he addressed Harry. Moody's attitude told Harry enough how dissatisfied he was at him.

"It's not like I had a chance to rest." Harry muttered.

"Rest?" Moody asked outraged. "You think in a war you have a chance to rest! You may very well have to go to one fight into another in a war! Who said anything about fighting between a nice long bath and sleep. The usual break an Auror had in the First Rise was a drink of water and a 10 minutes briefing for the next battle. And that was lucky for Aurors!" Moody ranted with a gleam in him eyes as he told about the 'Good ol' days.'

Moony spoke up. "While Moody is obviously exaggerating, his story holds some truth. Aurors back then were stretched incredibly thin and usually one Auror found himself flooing all over Britain to combat Voldemort's forces. You have to know that a real battle isn't like a duel. There is no setting, no set date and location. A real battle may take place 3 in the morning and in front of you very home. You can't complain about offset surprise duels."

Harry nodded tiredly.

"Good now rest up Potter, same time tomorrow." Moody and Moony left immediately. Harry sat down on the floor of the room in deep thought. It was obvious that Moody and Moony's word held truth. Harry felt somewhat ashamed at his whining.

Moody held a world of experience against the Death Eaters compared to him. While it was true that for his age, Harry did experience a lot. More then the majority of the adults in the wizarding world can ever say. But it wasn't as if others didn't suffer. Maybe they didn't suffer as much as him, but he wasn't alone. Records gathered after the war estimated over 800 muggle orphans and around 10 magical orphans had arisen from the First Rise.

The numbers would have been greater if it weren't for the fact that Death Eaters didn't go after only certain targets, they went after their entire families also. Supposedly 3 family lines were completely erased from the record, with over 10 well known families on the brink of being erased from record. The Bones were a fine example of one of those families.

Susan and Amelia Bones were the only surviving line from the once prominent and widely influential Bones family. Before the war they were estimated to have over 150 immediate people carrying the Bones name.

The Crouches were another example, the Crouches held over 30 people under their family name, but after the war only 3 were left. However at the moment none remained, the mother having dying of illness within Azkaban, the father being murdered by the son, and the son having his soul sucked out by dementors and then having his body put to death.

Wizards of course, weren't the only ones hit hard by the war. Muggles took the brunt of the pain by the wizard's prejudice.

Muggle orphans usually arose from random attacks that killed people but not intentionally a certain family. Magical families held record of their entire immediate family so the Death Eaters could easily trace the parents and the kids. That was why there were so few magical orphans during the war.

The Death Eaters killed everyone, very few survived, and if they did survive a raid, they were immediately hunted. They were hunted to show that nobody could escape from the Death Eaters. It was only after the wars end that 9 out of the 10 magical orphans came to public, having been hidden from the world for fear of Death Eater retaliation.

The casualty during the war was high, not muggle World War high, but considering the number of magical population in the world it was incredibly high. The percentage of death of the population in the First Rise was more then the muggle world war's death percentage of Britain's population.

The death rate was why there were so few magical kids coming to Hogwarts. Harry's year barely housed around a little less then 50. Before the First Rise, the average number of students for a year was around 150. Even after Harry's 'defeat' of Voldemort the numbers dwindled because of the large amount of the magical population fleeing Britain.

Even after all these years, they still stayed at wherever they fled to. It was reported that a large number of people went to France to hide, and that the number of students for Beaubaxton escalated dramatically in recent years.

Moody recounted his tales in the Aurors often. Harry liked Moody because he didn't sugarcoat anything like the press and political figures did. He might have overexagerated in some areas, but not when it came to battles. Moody said that they held too many deaths, too much suffering and pain to be ever be dishonored by him with lies and exaggerations.

Many of the battles that Moody went into weren't even battles. They were sick and horrible massacres of families. They were raids which led to battles with Aurors. Rapes and torturing were common. Cold blooded killing were to be expected. The name Death Eaters were well suited considering that they seemed to take pleasure in the death and sufferings of others.

**(Great Hall, September 11, Saturday)**

Harry entered the Great Hall to hear the whole Hall quieting down. There was absolute silence for a few minutes. Harry merely rolled his eyes at such stupidity and sat down next to Neville. He scooped up food onto his plate and ignored the whispering students.

Loud screeching filled the Great Hall, indicating the morning mail. A bundled Daily Prophet dropped onto Harry's plate, rudely interrupting his breakfast. He had subscribed recently, having been fed up with having to peer over other people's shoulders to read the news. The once blood thirty reporters eager to report lies and scandals amongst the magical world's famous, feeding off the misfortune of others, now had their gruesome and sickening fill of sorrow and heartaches waiting to be written about for the world to read.

Attacks and raids were a daily occurrence now, the obituary section was never empty and usually the ages of those on it barely past the 40's. Fear and sorrow was once again etched into the students' faces. It wasn't unusual to hear at least one person crying a day. The majority of them acted as if they could never have seen this coming, even when they had been warned time and time again for over a year of what was already taking place. It sickened Harry, yet it also filled him with pity, pity at their naivety and the fact that they were living in constant fear.

"Sad isn't it?" Neville spoke up from his seat next to Harry.

"It is sad, but it isn't unexpected. It's a war, and war means casualties. You and I know that well." Harry said.

"It doesn't mean that it's any less sad. I can feel their pain, their anguish and sorrow." Neville said.

"The only thing that can be done is retribution. I don't know how long it's going to take but she'll get what's coming to her." Harry didn't have to emphasize who 'she' was. Neville understood perfectly who Harry referred to.

**(Charms Classroom, September 11, Saturday)**

"Today Mr. Potter we will be going over wards." Flitwick said solemnly. Even the once cheery and upbeat teacher was affected by the current misfortune that was taking place around Britain.

"The importance of wards cannot be stressed. While jinxes and curses may help you in a straight out attack, wards can turn the overall battle in your favor. Also wards can protect your lives away from the battlefield.

Many great duelers lost their lives not in a battle, but in the vicinity of their own home because of the fact that they couldn't ward off attackers. Now the range of difficulty for wards goes from hard to nearly impossible.

There is nothing less. Even the most miniscule of wards require great power and knowledge of magic. Wards require a focal point in which the strain of the wards must focus upon. Now the diversity of wards is enormous.

The most common wards are those that prevent certain people from entering. There are wards to prevent certain people access. Now the focal point is not just to anchor the enormous magic needed in wards, but to give the ward a 'brain.' The brain is in itself simple, but it does hold knowledge.

Now the purpose of the brain is to decide who can pass the wards unharmed, as all prevention wards come with a unique punishment for the trespassers. The punishment is customized by the caster, in the olden days death was a common punishment, but that is now illegal. So jinxes and subduing magic is the common punishment.

The caster gives the brain requirements for the people crossing the wards to have in order the pass. It can range from blood, looks, family name, anything the caster wants. The other thing about the focal point is that there is a constant link between the focal point and the caster, updating the focal point's requirements subconsciously.

Also the caster does not have to be alive for the wards to stand. As long as the caster 'transfers' the hold of the wards to another, then the other now holds power over the wards. Of course the wards can be held in place without a 'master' but the stability of the wards can't be managed without a master, so in the usual case the wards collapse."

Harry took all this in and looked at the only other occupant in the room. Fleur didn't show for the lessons anymore, not with her requirements to being an assistant to Madam Pomprey increasing. After all, she did have a duty to help the overworked healer in order to finish her schooling.

It was actually funny; one would think that with 2 healers instead of one, the work load for each would lessen. However the injury levels of the students increased this year. Not surprisingly the injuries were mostly male.

Madam Pomprey and Fleur weren't stupid; they knew that the males inflicted injuries upon themselves purposely. That was why Pomprey took all the male patients while Fleur attended the girls, however the male population of Hogwarts didn't seem to get the hint and more and more people went to the Hospital Wing, daily.

**(Transfiguration Classroom, September 11, Saturday)**

Harry sat patiently in a chair as he listened to Victor and McGonagall as they recounted their Animagus Training. McGonagall had a completely different training then Victors. It was expected considering that she had her training almost 30 years previous to Victor.

During her time, the training required a lot more reading of the theories. There weren't many instructors that could teach others so a person had to practice, practice, and practice. Rarely were people lucky enough to find apprenticeship under previous Animagi. Even those that did receive apprenticeship didn't have that much of an advantage. How was someone supposed to learn how to twitch an unused muscle merely by the words from a book or the words from another's mouth?

However a decades and a half ago, a potion was found to trigger the transformation, allowing a person to get the feel of transforming for a few seconds. After the potion was made, the transformation for animagus trainees became much easier. It was like riding a bike, after a person did it once, it became much easier after.

The problem with the potion was the price of the ingredients and the length to which the potion had to be brewed. The potion wasn't actually difficult to brew but the fact was that only people with very profitable jobs could afford the ingredients, jobs like Victor's Quidditch Profession.

Victor told Harry that to even get the bare minimum amount of ingredients, where a person had to make absolutely no mistake in wasting ingredients, the cost was about 48,000 galleons on the black market. Also the potion took about a month to brew; the good part was that there were sizable distances between the adding of different ingredients.

Another problem was that the potion only helped a person in their quest for being an Animagus; there was no guarantee that a person would be able to transform after drinking the potion. It may even take two uses of the potions.

Harry gave the question deep thought. He wasn't in any financial strain, far from it actually. But Harry didn't exactly want to be carelessly wasting money just because he had a lot. He weighed the pros and cons of the deal, 48,000 galleons for a potion that could dramatically cut down the Animagus lesson. In the end Harry agreed, he wasn't short on galleons, but he was short on time.

**(Cabin in Forbidden Forest, September 11, Saturday)**

"Supposedly from Moody, you're out of shape." Richard said to Harry.

Harry's mouth opened in protest. "What the hell, I run every morning!"

Richard shook his head. "Running only improves your stamina in your legs; you need to exercise for more then just your legs. From now on you will follow a strict exercise program set by me. Do you understand?" Richard said.

Harry just sighed in resignation. "Okay, but what's the point. After I learn how to control my magic level I won't need to have natural strength." Harry questioned.

"It is because then you wouldn't need to put **as** much magic to get the same strength outcome. If you have natural strength then you wouldn't need to divert a lot of the magic that could be used for other things into your muscles. Magic and muscle are two different sources for strength that could be combined to form a more productive outcome." Richard explained.

"You will have to do your exercise everyday; you only meet with Elizabeth and I even though I am trying to convince your Headmaster to increase the number of night lesson, but alas he says that the suspicion will be too high. So I trust that you will do what I saw without me having to watch over your back?" Richard gave Harry a scrutinizing aze.

"Alright... Let's get on with it already." Harry said impatiently.

"You seem a bit more restless today Mr. Potter." Richard said to Harry.

"It's just not a good day for me." Harry said.

"Understood, so shall we work on your muscles once again?" Richard asked. "I hope that you practiced during the weekdays."

"Yeah, a little..." Harry said.

"Good, than I hope to see improvement in your strength during this lesson." Richard said.

Harry was once again put through incredibly hilarious looking exercises. He did improve a bit but he needed a long way to go to go against Elizabeth.

**(Front Lawn of Hogwarts, September 12, Sunday)**

The crisp misty atmosphere found only in the early morning or right after a light rain was refreshing to Harry's hazy mind. When he exited to the lush green lawn in front of Hogwarts, Harry had been still asleep, but the weather immediately woke Harry. He went to a comfortable spot on a dewy stretch of grass and stretched his body.

He would usually stretch only his legs, but his workout was to be different then his usual morning exercise. The overall workout wasn't hard to follow; the routines were simple and mostly repetitive. The only problem being that he was severely out of shape.

Quidditch had been a good source for stretching my muscles, but as Harry quit the team he only had running to keep himself in shape. And running didn't help increase his strength at all.

He did a number of push ups until his arms gave way, which to his annoyance wasn't a lot, and then he went to do crunches. His abs weren't as weak as his arms considering that using a broom required the use of the stomach more so then the arms.

He then took out his wand and conjured what Richard said dumbbells looked like. Harry still had problems with measuring weight so he cast a charm to measure the weight of the dumbbells in pounds. (I don't know if British still use the king's system, but considering that I don't know jack about relative weight in Metric too bad.)

The dumbbell measured close to 20 pounds. It was an _adequate_ weight to start the exercise with at least according to Richard. Harry was ashamed at the fact that he could only do 15 sets of each.

After Harry couldn't do anymore, he reduced the weight by 5 pounds and did another 15 sets on each arm. He then reduced the weight by 5 again and did another 15 sets. After Harry was satisfied and got rid of the dumbbells.

Harry couldn't exercise more because the conjuring was too complicated to bring about workout machines. Harry went for a run and after his run he stretched. He entered Hogwarts once again aching at his arms and abs.

(Room of Requirement, September 12, Sunday)

Harry stood in the middle of the ever changing room in deep thought.

Recently, Harry found out over breakfast Malfoy's punishment for Friday's spell. Harry smirked as he heard that Malfoy got his prefect's badge taken away, along with his Quidditch Captain's position, the position in the Quidditch team, and also received 3 months of detention every night. He also received a yearlong ban on Hogsmeade, future balls, and any electives and clubs. Even though the punishment was great, he didn't wanted Malfoy punished. Harry wanted Malfoy thrown into prison or at least expelled!

The bastard would have killed him if Harry didn't practice a bit of wandless magic over the summer. Harry didn't understand how the bastard was still in school; rumor had it that Dumbledore himself stepped in from expelling Malfoy. Which Harry didn't if it was true, but with the past idiocy and lenience that Dumbledore showed, it wouldn't be surprising.

He also found that his wand less magic skills turned out to be a blessing and a curse for him. After word spread of Harry's blocking of Malfoy's powerful and lethal curse without a wand, people either treated him like a god or like the next Voldemort.

Harry's last spell against Malfoy almost warranted punishment. It was only the fact that Harry did a spell that wasn't lethal, although close, that Harry got out without punishment.

Harry snorted what could they possibly do to Harry anyways? Take away his non-existent Prefect's badge and Quidditch spot, or maybe give him another yearlong detention?

Also, after the lesson's end, all Dark Arts were to be hereby banned in the duel. No matter if the two duelers agreed on the acceptance on the use. Also the rules of the duel limited to use of only one wand, Harry frowned after that. He had 2 extra wands, but now they were rendered useless in a duel.

It was actually pretty sad how unorganized the new electives were, it laid proof to how much the war was taxing Dumbledore. Dumbledore was a man that seemed to have everything seen through in advance, every problem, except where it applied to Harry, every flaw, every loophole, but even now something as simple as the MD and HA had so much problems showed that all was not well with Dumbledore. (In actuality it shows how rushed I was in making the damn electives, and they are the bane of my existence.)

The only thing that Harry looked forward to today was the DA that was to take place after breakfast in the RoR. Today's meeting would only consist of last year's member excluding the graduates. This was to be a public club, with limited membership allowed, so only on previously set dates could the club be allowed to take place. That was why Harry was situated in the RoR on a Sunday, after breakfast, with about 10 to 15 kids standing by him.

Harry turned to the group assembled before him. The group consisted of everyone from last year's DA excluding those that graduated. He even extended invitations to allow Ron and Marietta to come back, even if done with incredible reluctance. However it seemed that both of them didn't show. Harry could only guess that it was done out of shame and the other out of spite.

"Welcome to this year's DA, this meeting is now a public and LEGAL club authorized by the headmaster. The purpose of the Defense Association, as the headmaster requested I change the name, is to teach you to defend yourselves against the enemies that you may very well encounter in the real world.

Needless to say there is a war and there will be no more kidding around. The name of this club in itself is bit misleading as I will teach you offensive magic along with defensive magic. However it is said that the best defense is a strong offense, so maybe it isn't truly lying.

Anyways I will not be teaching you pathetic spells like the petrification spells and stunner. The spells I will cover will actually do damage against your opponents. The spells I will teach aren't for throwing around like you would pebbles in a pond. These spells will be damaging, painful, and are not to be taken likely or used in stupidity against your friends and enemies just because of a childish conflict.

I swear if I ever hear the use of the spells I teach you for stupidity and bullying, you will face **my** wrath. Not only will you face my wrath, you will also face the headmaster's punishment. What I teach you in this club should only be used against Death Eaters and the like. Spells to protect you against what could be certain death." Harry saw Zacharias roll his eyes.

"Think I'm kidding Smith? If you think what I'm saying is over dramatic or a joke, step out. I'm not paid to teach you, I don't truly care if you learn what I have to teach." Harry said.

Zacharias paled a bit but didn't budge.

"Good, now anyone that is against learning what could be borderline Dark Arts can step out now. I won't teach you "Dark" Arts seeing as how the Ministry and the headmaster will be on my arse faster then you can say Quidditch, but they are pretty harmful to you opponents."

No one left.

Harry smiled when everyone was done. "Great. Now we are told to expand the DA to include more students. I personally don't have a problem with this, but I will most likely not include 4th year students and below." Protests came up from the previous 4th years.

Quiet! Before having 4th years were fine, because we were using mediocre spells. This is year it's different, the level of difficulty far surpasses what any 4th and 5th year should normally be able to take. Last year, I was teaching you spells you **should** have learned from that fat toad, but this year because we have competent teachers I will teach you spells not found within your textbooks.

And these spells are not as complex as the Patronus Charm, but incredibly more difficult then stunners and redactor curses. I'm proud to say that many of you got something akin to a corporeal Patronus, but let me ask you. Can you bring up the happy thoughts in the presence of a dementor? Would you be able to even sprout a mist of your Patronus in the presence of a being that sucks the very happiness from you?" Harry asked.

Harry then shrugged at the silence. (Think Morpheus as he tells Neo about his muscles and everything in the cyberduel.) "Maybe... Now as I was saying, the spells I will teach are powerful. They are pretty well on par with the level of difficulty of the spells that you will need to know for the N.E.W.T. courses. At least that was what Dumbledore said as I told him my brief outline of the spells I will teach you."

The next 10 minutes were spent outlining what Harry would teach the DA for the year's end. Some protests came, which Harry deterred calmly, and some suggestions for the DA were brought up by the students. Harry changed some of the year's plan when needed and then the discussions came up for the new members.

"I believe that John Lawry is a good candidate to join. He's a 6th year that transferred here. He's Ravenclaw like me." Padma spoke up.

Her fellow Ravenclaws nodded their heads in agreement.

"Really, why do you support him?" Harry asked.

"He shows great knowledge of DADA and Charms." Another Ravenclaw added.

Harry nodded and added the name to a parchment carrying the potential new members.

"How about that Greengrass girl?" Susan asked.

"A Slytherin?" Seamus asked in outrage.

"Yes, she is a Slytherin." Susan said without quivering to Seamus' rage.

"Yes, that is another thing I wanted to bring up. We should add Slytherin's in this group." Harry supported Susan, who in turn beamed at him.

"What you can't be serious; they're all slimy prejudice snakes and most of all evil!" Zacharias yelled and a lot of the members nodded their heads.

"And how are we not being prejudice to label all Slytherins evil?" Hermione asked.

"Hermione is correct. I agree that not everyone from the Slytherin house is friendly, but that doesn't make everyone from the house evil. I don't plan to bring Malfoy into this group, with or without his ban, but that doesn't mean we can't ask other Slytherins to join. In all my years here I've personally never had trouble with Greengrass, from what I hear she even told her father that I wouldn't be making up the lies about Voldemort-," flinch, "-returning. Oh for heaven's sake. Stop flinching whenever the name Voldemort-," flinch, "-is said! That is so god damn annoying, I should just say Voldemort-," flinch, "-so many times that by the end of the lesson you'll either have a nerve problem or have solved your flinching problem." Harry sighed.

"Also a potential candidate to ask is Blaise Zabini. She's a good dueler from what I've seen and I heard that she's adept in Transfiguration and 5th in the year." Harry said.

"Yeah but-," Seamus tried hard to make some excuse to not let the Slytherins to join.

"Look Seamus, this isn't a secret club that needs trust to maintain it. The only thing that club needs is that the material taught here isn't abused and that the people in here will be dedicated enough to learn the material. Even in this group right now, we can't ensure that someone in here won't abuse the material taught to you. Hell I can't even know if any of you over abused the things I taught to you last year." Harry stated.

"Personally I don't want to include anyone that wasn't in last year, seeing as the people here are known to be trustful and actually believed me last year. I personally think that the only people we should recruit are the exchange students, Slytherins, and the 5th years. Seeing as they are the only ones that didn't have a chance to join last year." Harry told the group.

"Well I personally agree, we should ask people like Daphne Greengrass, she is actually pretty nice once you get to know her." Luna spoke up from the back of the group.

"Travis Davis is also someone we should consider." Padma added.

"How about the exchance student, James Cook? He's in Hufflepuff, 5th year." Hannah said.

"Yeah he seems like a good guy." Justin said.

"That McBlack girl is really good at Transfiguration." Hermione said.

"I don't think she's a good idea." Harry said uneasily.

"Why?" Hermione asked.

Harry didn't want to actually tell Hermione the truth. "I just don't feel that she'll be a good person to ask."

"Well if you can't give a good reason, we should ask her. I heard that she's great at Healing too." Hermione stated with finality in her voice.

Harry couldn't tell the truth about Dora McBlack to the group so Harry just let the subject go. Besdies, it would give him a greater time to study her.

In another 5 minutes 15 more kids were added to the potential members list.

"Good, now all we have to do is send these membership out. Colin, could go to the owlery, and send these to the given students? After the meeting of course" Harry asked.

"Sure thing Harry." Colin answered brightly.

"Good, now this year everyone should be on par with each other. Note that you will not be using spells against each other anymore. The spells are too powerful. Instead, I found a useful way to practice spells in here." Harry's face took on a look of concentration.

Behind Harry appeared 20 dummies. The dummies were brown and had no facial features; however their bodies were sculpted similarly to an actual human body.

"All of the following spells that you learn from now on will be used on these dummies. Under no circumstance are you allowed to use the spells on each other. Save the spells for the Magical Dueling elective." Harry said.

"Now today's DA won't involve any spell work. It was only to help finalize the DA for this year. The coming Sunday, meet back at the same time as today. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

The majority of the group left the room feeling unsatisfied with the lesson but opted to ignore it. They understood that the club needed to be more organized before any of the real lessons started but they had been eager to learn something from him.

**(Gryffindor Common Room, September 12, Sunday)**

Harry laid back into one of the many fluffy and comfortable coaches that lied scattered around the common room in exasperation. He had currently had a heated debate with Hermione about something that he couldn't even remember.

The topic was insignificant but the fact was they both were too stubborn to back down from trying to prove their point on one another. The argument wasn't like Ron and Hermione's rants; actually it wasn't even really an argument.

More like one of those political debates Harry would see on television every once in a while. Both of them weren't yelling, but they were both firm in their beliefs. Neither gave leeway to the other, and Harry guessed that was why Hermione was on the opposite side of the room chatting with Ginny, thoroughly ignoring his presence.

"Hey Harry." Harry looked up to see Dean and Seamus standing above him.

"Yeah, hey." Harry looked at them oddly. Ever since his fight with Ron, it seemed that the rest of the school's population opened up to him more. They started to talk to him more, not about Voldemort and such, but talked to him as if he was any other kid. They talked to him about girls, balls, and the like.

"I... – I mean we just wanted to have your opinion on a matter. Ya' see, Dean and I are having a difference of opinion and we wanted to have a third party's view." Harry nodded at Seamus and looked at Dean who looked confused. They wanted him to choose sides so that the other could rub it in the other's face.

"Well Dean here thinks Ginny is the prettiest girl in the upper year Gryffindors, but I think the best looking girl is Heather Jayne." Seamus explained the dilemma.

"The 7th year?" Harry asked. That was another thing, before his knowledge of classmates rarely extended past his own year. Ron's family excluded and the Gryffindor Chasers were about the only people from the other years in Gryffindor that he knew. Now he got to know more about just about everyone in Gryffindor but the 1st years.

"Yeah her, you know the red head, blue eyes, and sexy body with great assets, perky tits and nice fine arse, and a fiery temper." Seamus explained.

"Oh you mean the one that'll kick your arse if she found out that you were talking about her in such a lucrative and perverted manner?" Harry asked amused.

"Oh, yeah her." Seamus said while looking confused at Harry's smirk and Dean's frown.

"The very same person ready to hex you at this very moment?" Harry's eyes practically shined with mirth.

Seamus didn't try to hide his fear and tried to immediately hide behind Dean, who was barely holding in his laughs. He wasn't fast enough as Heather shot a jinx at Seamus causing him to grow a pig's snout and oink at odd sets of times.

Harry and Dean were cracking up by the time that Seamus ran up to his dorm trying to avoid being seen. It was a pointless cause as most of the common room saw the fiery tempered girl curse Seamus.

The rest of the common room join in the laughter and Heather went back to talking with her friends. Dean quieted down rather quickly.

"What's wrong Dean?" Harry asked.

"It's just that Seamus wasn't trying to talk about girls with you. I was trying to force him to apologize for conflicting with you at the DA." Dean confessed. "I guess he got chicken at the last moment."

"It's okay; I understand his reluctance to let Slytherins in. I too would still be reluctant if I didn't find some tolerable Slytherins recently." Harry.

"Yeah well I also wanted to-," Dean was interrupted.

"Harry?" Harry looked up to see a shy 5th year standing by his chair. "I'm sorry for interrupting, but would you go to the Christmas ball with me?"

Harry blushed. People asking him to the ball were pretty common nowadays. Ever since the papers hailed him as a hero the girls and even some boys flocked to ask him to the ball.

"I'm sorry Claire, but I'm going stag." Claire Porter looked dejected. She blushed deeply embarrassed, the color rivaling even Ginny's hair. Harry recalled that he acted the same way in his 4th year asking Cho.

Harry truly hated not accepting people's proposal, their reactions made him feel utterly guilty but he also didn't like the fact that they were probably asking him only because of his fame. He was an average height kid with slightly lanky figure and no particularly attractive attribute.

The only thing that Harry's liked about his face was his mother's eyes. Although its features were darker, more filled with pain and grief then the eyes of his mothers.

When the girl went out of sight up the stairs, with evidence of crying, Dean turned to Harry. "I don't get you Harry, you have a perfectly nice girl ask you out and you turn it down." Dean shook his overdramatically as if Harry had some sort of terminal disease.

"Well I can honestly say that the chances are that she didn't ask me because she liked me. I mean I haven't even spoken 10 words to her before and she asks me out. That kind of tells that she looks at me as the Boy-Who-Lived not Harry. I'm not even that attractive. Especially compared to you, Seamus, and that guy in 7th year with blond hair." Harry said.

"Harry, Harry, Harry..." Dean said with mock pity. "You may be able to take on 1000's of Death Eater, fly a broom rivaling pro-Quidditch players, have the power to one day rival Dumbledore, but when it comes to girls, Neville knows more."

"Oi!" Harry said in outrage. "You don't have to hit that low."

"Honestly Harry, even Neville has more self confidence then you when it comes to the other gender." Dean shook his head in a way imitating a doctor telling a family bad news. "Do you know how much I hear about Harry this and Harry that when I pass by girls. It's somewhat disgusting how much they list your 'attractive' features. They go on and on about your 'eyes that can pierce a person's soul, devil-may-care hair, build that rivals a gymnast, graceful and powerful.' Honestly I'm really jealous how they practically worship you, I even heard Ginny last year going on about you." Dean said.

Harry blushed crimson. "Aww, shut up."

Dean laughed. "Okay, okay."

**(Great Hall, September 17, Friday)**

As if on a regular schedule, the Daily Prophet arrived with the usual notice of deaths overnight. People's moods were at an all time low. It even got to Harry. The teachers tried to sympathize; even Snape reduced his snide comments to help the student body cope with the war.

A.M. Bones was handling the situation pretty well. At least better then Fudge by a long shot. She commanded enormous respect amongst the Aurors, having been one of the few Aurors to go through the Grindewalds reign and the First Rise without being given the boot by people like Fudge. It also helped that she had Dumbledore's full support; Harry even expressed his congratulations to Susan.

It was something that the reporters seemed to have somehow picked up on, as his open support for Madam Bones was written in the Daily Prophet. Amongst the newspapers came another mail, it was from his accountant Jewel Delaney. It seemed that she finally contacted him about him now being of legal age.

_Dear Mr. Potter._

_As you most likely know I am your family's accountant. While I am quite new to the business, having only been in the profession for 13 years, I can say that my family has been your family's accountant for 5 generations after having problems with the previous accountant for illegal laundering of the Potter's assets._

_I understand that you have now full legal control over your financial status and thus can control who would oversee your account. While I would like to continue working for you under the same payment rate, it would ultimately be your decision. Please reply back with your wishes._

_Jewel Delaney, CEO of Delaney CWA. (Instead of Certified Public Accountant it stands for Certified Wizarding Accountant. I know, I know lame but don't flame.)_

Harry left the Great Hall immediately and went up to the Owlery. He whistled for Hedwig in the sea of birds. The graceful and beautiful snowy owl flew down to his shoulder. Hedwig preened herself as Harry groomed her. Harry chuckled inwardly, his owl acted just like an over exuberant female.

Harry told his owl to wait for him to finish writing a letter and told her that it'll be to France. Hedwig took it all in strides and she lavished herself in his care. Harry looked at his finished writing to check to make sure that he didn't sound over cocky or informal.

_Dear Madam Delaney,_

_It is nice to hear from you, truth be told I had no idea of your existence or the existence of your firm until late into this summer. I put trust in your family's ability to handle the Potter Fortune, as you ancestors and mine have obviously trusted each other. I would be honored if you would continue to manage my account._

_However I do have a few concerns and few questions. My top concern is the convenience of communication. It is obvious that message by owl is long and taxing for the delivery animal. I truthfully would like to have a more... immediate way of communicating with you or your workers. A way that is private and wouldn't require the frequent use of the fireplace seeing as there is no privacy within the walls of Hogwarts. _

_Next my questions are the Potter's full stock records. I do not know the limits of my family's fortune, business ventures, property owned, and the list of people and places where regular payments with list of payment and reasoning for payment, whether being taxes, worker's fee, etc. are made from the family vault. I wish to have complete information as soon as possible. _

_The form of communication would be your choice as long as it is private, though I prefer to have someone ready to explain any questions that I would need upon receiving such information._

_Have a nice day, Harry James Potter, heir to the Potter Family._

Harry was satisfied with the letter and gave it to Hedwig. His owl took off and Harry watched it until her distance became so great that she was but a speck in the sky. He exited the owlery, content on leaving the loud squabbling of the owls behind. He hurried to his first lesson, seeing as he was close to being late.

A/N: Uneventful, yes I know. Sorry, but I wanted to write more on a normal day for Harry. Upcoming chapters will be better, I hope.

Seaver: 1) The reason why Harry didn't blow up in Hermione's face was because of the fact that Harry and Hermione only had a conflict of personal opinions. Opinions that Harry himself believed before, so he couldn't fault Hermione for still having the naïve beliefs. He is exasperated by her childish notions, but he isn't angry had her for having her own political type opinions. He mainly tries to explain to the best of abilities his point of view, in hopes of clearing the naive notions of Hermione and the rest of the schools, well the Gryffindor's at any rate. 2) With the physical application of the duel, Harry himself is only starting to learn the concept of strength training in terms of magic. Until then he learns nothing about fighting without magic. Of course I understand the dodging part, but the fighting part I can't bend. He is going 3 against 1, physically weaker then 2 out of 3 of his opponents for sure, and doesn't know shit how to fight hand to hand. 3) I apologize if Harry seems OC to you. However it is good to note that Harry only blasted Snape in a duel, which he brought upon himself, and when he was forced to in the hopes of a convincing act planned by the professors.

Slacker1: 1) Animagus, yeah I know it wasn't original. Hate that about the animagus not being original. This is the main part where I think I crossed the line into making Harry almost super. This is also one of the reasons I took so long to update, I was having a huge conflict whether to put the animagus's training in or not. However I don't have much knowledge on what else to teach Harry during McGonagall's lesson so I had to go with animagus training, begrudgingly. 2) What you have to understand is that even if Harry doesn't realize it, he has been given easy fights over the summer. I mean the Auror's, at least Moody, had to go easy. Most of the others went with mediocre spells, and even if it was hard being outnumbered, the spells were still way below what the trainers could do at maximum. If Moody and the others went all out at the beginning, it'll be like crash coursing Calculus to a person barely passing Geometry. As you can see after Harry got to school, and had the hang of dueling, Moody stepped up the fighting with more intricate magic and the like. That is Harry's weakness, no matter how fast, how powerful he is, he still doesn't have experience. 3) The thing with Malfoy, yeah I made Harry "play" with Malfoy more then he had to. That was in itself Harry's flaw. He, like so many before him, underestimated his opponent and got arrogant. Also the fact about Malfoy knowing how to duel, dueling in the magical world must be a somewhat popular past time. Nowhere near the publicity of Quidditch, but if dueling is so popular, Malfoy would no doubt have had tutors to teach him in the past in dueling. Even if Malfoy's spell work sucked, his past experience with dueling would make it so that he at least knew the fundamentals in a duel and not make amateur mistakes. A coward Malfoy is, but a rich ass whole with an ambitious ass kissing father he has. But remember, no matter how great a dueler is, the main fundamental flaw that can throw a duel is arrogance. Harry and Tonks, Tonk threw a spell to Harry's back and not expecting him to retaliate had a late reaction, getting taken down. Harry and Snape, there is no doubt that if Snape went all out on Harry, without playing around with "light" spells in the beginning Harry would not get out of the duel winning. Harry might believe that he could take Snape on even if Snape went all out, but Snape has had 30 years or so of experience with magic and Snape would have taken Harry down, hard if he weren't so arrogant into believing that Harry could be beaten with minimal effort. Harry and Moody, Harry over the summer beat Moody on and off, however after having a one on one with Moody, where Moody didn't hold back and did complex magic, Harry lost. Although note to the fact that Moony helped Moody, but still. Also Moony has too much emotional ties with Harry to go all out with Harry no matter how much Harry would expect him to.

Mike: About Harry playing the field... I don't think I'm going to probably write that. I like stories like that, I totally understand that, but I just don't feel that if I make Harry a sort of a player that it would fit with how I want Harry. But you never know. I seem to write one way, one chapter and the complete opposite that next. That's why I'm such a shitty writer; I have no commitment to one plot. That and my grammar sucks.

ADJ: Sorry for the Ron bashing. Truthfully I agree with you, Ron put up with a lot of shit in the 5th book. However, I'm more firmly latched onto the 4th books, as you can see with bringing all the characters from the 4th book back and all. I can't truly justify my Ron bashing, I can truly say that this story is just my way of ranting and creating a story that I wish to read from others. Honestly, I have nothing against Ron, it's just Ron bashing is so fun. I love stories where Ron and Harry are great friends, but I just can't seem to write anything pro Ron. Maybe some other story where I mature a bit, Lol. For the Veela charm, of course it the strength of the mind, and I guess your point makes sense. It truly isn't likely for a whole stadium of people to be weaker magically then Arthur Weasley, but you never know how powerful Arthur may be. Look at his off springs, they show incredible knowledge and their line of work aren't easy on their magic.


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